Niagra Falls of Happiness

There is so much good in my life right now, I feel the 'big blessing dump' has become a waterfall: an unending cascade that has swept me, arms thrown up in surrender, along in its current; content to ride the red carpet on planet earth that I have so (thankfully) been enjoying since ... gee I can't remember when.

Weary of writing (or not. preoccupied, perhaps, with other people-places-things) I walked down to the ocean. In Carpinteria I was a half block from the beach; here I am a whopping four blocks - it seemed an eternity (ha!) as I tiptoed barefoot along 13th Street with its neat colorful cottages, and traversed the Electric Ave. park where young lovers made a picnic of cheese, crackers and wine, sprawled out, oblivious to the world, on a horsehair blanket.

A predominant hum of birds enveloped me: a 360-degree surround sound of chirping-chatting-chittering-twittering birds; while colors of the rainbow bloomed. Fuchsia bougainvillea, purple pansies, yellow daffodils, red geraniums, the prolific white jasmine ... I snatched a bouquet of lavender and rosemary and breathed deep the scent of the impending summer.

The sun hung low, casting long shadows on the footprints (human, avian) on the sand, and shot golden light on the wooden pier outstretched in the sea. A trio of youngsters, their blond heads haloed by the sun, raised cyclones of dust as they rumbled rocks (imaginary trucks) along paths in the sand. Families gathered, couples strolled, old women gossiped; all awaiting the anticipated sunset that would mark the start of Memorial Day weekend and the beginning of summer. SUMMER!

I walked the sloping beach, laboring in the uneven sand, and thought of a conversation I had with Dee. 'What did I want most?' she asked.

'To be healthy.'

'More healthy?' she replied, puzzled. She was right. I am pretty darned healthy. And I had already bumped up a modicum my good health practices (be more diligent about taking my vitamins and calcium; joined a small, quiet gym to keep my parts strong) so instead I circled 'To be happy' on the list in my head, and pondered my good fortune. (Ha! 'More happy?' Dee would no doubt ask ... )

The sun set and the sky grayed. Catalina sunk into the darkening horizon, and the air cooled. I returned home, eager to write (always a good thing), excited for weekend and days to come.