I have a bunch of work to do the next four days, wrapped around the ringing in of the NEW YEAR. So this morning I woke up extra early, brewed some French Roast and headed out for a ride to the beach. As the day lit up I walked along the beautiful beaches of Siesta Key and was really grateful for where I am at. I really can say that I grew up in a coupke of really beautiful places, Sarasota and Rhode Island and I have always had the beach nearby. This morning I really soaked in all that was around me and it was odd, I appreciated the enviroment around me more than maybe I ever had. It seems that in growing up here, we take the luxuries around us for granted. I really should spend more time outdoors.
As I walked down the beach I began to think back to the last few years. While I am still a creature of the night in some respects, with age I enjoy and appreciate the beginning of the day more and more. There was a time when I would have to work at 4pm and I would sleep until 3 and then rush out the door and I would miss the whole day. Now that I am a little bit older I wake up a little earlier and allow myself to ease into my day. A wise man once told me that you can measure a mans happiness by whether or not he wakes up with the sun. A content man will wake with the sun eager to face the upcoming day, while someone who is unhappy will stay in bed, dreading the next day. I am happy that I have become the man who wakes up in the morning.
I walked along the beach today and I though back over the last few years and how I learned to appreciate the mornings so much. In Santa Monica I would wake with the sun and walk down the beach toward the peir from Venice towards Broadway where I would spend the first few hours of the day writing at a great coffee shop that I called my office. I loved watching the beach wake up, but I enjoyed having such a sort after beach all to myself even more and enjoyed finding the treasures left behind by nightwalkers as I avoided the streets and walked to my destination oceanside.
I thought of my mornings in the French Quarter. It was a little different in New Orleans, sometimes I would be getting off of work as the sun came up, but every day around 6 am I would walk down Bourbon St. through the French Quarter as the men were spraying down the streets and I always felt privileged to have the place all to myself. Even Bourbon St. is clear of people on most days at six in the morning and I was able to walk down freshly cleaned streets and look at the beautiful history in a different light than most people see it late night partying.
When I first arrived in Santa Cruz I would walk down the street to the beach. At first I stayed at the hostel on 3rd St. and I would walk down the giant hill to the Boardwalk and walk down the Peir and spend the quiet mornings laughing at the barking sealions. Sometimes I would walk from a friends down to Pleasure Point and sit seaside on a bench and watch the surfers hit the surf trying to catch the first wave of the day and when I lived in the mountains, I would stroll through the Redwood forest where the giant trees blocked out the morning sun, until you got to the top and I would watch the fog burn off and the beach appear off in the distance.
In my travels I learned to appreciate the mornings. I realized that my world is a beautiful place and I am lucky to have found great places to dwell, sometimes by choice and other times by chance. This morning I really noticed how great my little town and its little island are early in the morning. As a kid I used to party until all hours of the night on the key and wake up with the sun and rush to get out of it. Today, I sat on a catamaran and watched the tourist trying to get the first sea shells which washed up the night before and I felt privileged to be able to start my day here, home.
It's funny how my journey took me back to Sarasota. As soon as I got here I faced the things that were holding me back and now I am able to work hard and really enjoy the things that are around me. I don't spend my nights out at bars (that doesn't mean I am an angel) and I am able to take walks downtown and on our islands. Right next to my apt. there is a bike path that leasds to downtown and sometimes, rather than take two buses one from my house to the bus terminal and then to work, sometimes I just walk down that bike path and walk through downtown as the morning wakes up. Usually on my walk I see someone I know and it is a neat feeling to be home, in familiar surroundings.
As I have mentioned that my plans are to leave here sometime by spring, but while I am here I am taking advantage of every moment that I am here and enjoying what is good in my life, what is NOW and for me, thats what it is all about.
ONE LOVE
tilly
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