I woke briefly during the night and for a moment, stood at the balcony door feeling lashed by the sea breeze and spattered by the rain, listening to the waves crashing against the shore. I went back to sleep, expecting (rather realistically, I think) that I’d awaken again at “my usual time” – sometime around 04:00-05:00. It’s quite rare for me to sleep later. This morning, I woke shortly after 07:00, already daylight beyond the windows. A gray stormy morning. High tide? Almost – that’s due at 08:00.
A stormy morning, almost high tide.
I pulled myself together groggily, resisting turning on any lights, just enjoying the blue-gray of the stormy morning. The room feels stuffy, and I open the patio door wide to let in the sea breeze. I shower and dress, and run a brush through my hair, before heading downstairs briefly to grab some grab-n-go breakfast items. This morning’s breakfast is simple enough: a yogurt cup, some instant oatmeal, a small blueberry muffin to go with my second coffee, later. I indulge myself by having a small glass of orange juice, but just 4 ounces; it’s a lot of sugar all at once – but it’s enough to shake off the grogginess that had lingered. I return to my room and make coffee (the coffee in the breakfast bar is… less than ideally fit to drink. LOL)
Today is a work day, although I’m on the coast in a favorite hotel room. I’m getting a late start on the day but my hours are pretty flexible, and it’s a non-issue. My co-workers chuckle when I log in “so late” (for me). I’m usually the earliest one in. Today? Not so much. LOL Breakfast first. I take my time and let myself wake up thoroughly, before I start handling work tasks (that’s just smart). My coffee is good. Welcome and warming. Breakfast is… adequate. Nothing fancy. It’s enough to start the day on.
Damn I slept well. A huge yawn splits my face. A gull glides past the window, seeming to look in at me as it slides past and out of view.
A good spot for watching the gulls.
I already miss my Traveling Partner. He already misses me. I still value (and enjoy)(and even need) this solo time. The time spent on work is just work time, but the time I’ll get to spend reading, writing, reflecting, and taking pictures will be so emotionally nourishing. Time well-spent. Doesn’t stop me missing my partner. The opportunity to miss each other is precious; it gives lasting perspective and awareness of just how much we really do mean to each other. That’s worth having.
…My Traveling Partner pings me a heart emoji. He’s awake too. The day begins. I smile, thinking of the both of us, each in our own space, sipping our morning coffee, rested, relaxed, and in love. It’s a good morning. 😀 I sip my coffee contentedly and glance at the time. Looks like time to begin again. 😀
My coffee tastes different this morning. It’s not because I am sitting cross-legged on the surprisingly comfy Queen bed in this seaside hotel, not even because it’s fairly typically-terrible hotel coffee made in a fairly generically terrible-coffee-making drip machine sitting atop the small room-sized hotel refrigerator, but more because I am sipping it solo, with no chance at all of sharing the moment with my Traveling Partner. Right at the moment, in all practical terms, we’re traveling separately (he’s sleeping still, at home, I hope, and I am sitting cross-legged in sloppy-loose blue jeans, laptop perched precariously on my lap, waiting for my terrible coffee to cool enough to drink properly).
I’d say my goal of relaxing and getting some “down time” before shifting gears to start the new job has been successful; I woke having entirely forgotten about Daylight Savings Time, and looking at the clock and finding “6:30 am” to be both believable, and an acceptable time to wake on a leisure morning… I woke up. I laughed when I finally noticed the discrepancy between the clock that I had checked upon waking (which automatically updated) and the one that did not (provided by the hotel, plugged into the wall in the usual way). I shrugged it off and got started making terrible coffee and looking over the notes I took at several points yesterday, as I walked and wandered, waited and reflected, breathed and meditated.
The ocean does not care when or whether I check into my hotel room, nor when I leave. My presence makes no difference to the timing of the waves, or the fierceness of the winds.
I arrived to the shore much too early to check into the hotel, and my room was not yet ready. Didn’t matter much; the endless ocean tickled the shore without regard to check-in times. The hotel graciously allowed me to use the private beach access in the meantime, and I went down what seemed like 1001 concrete steps to the beach. The wind was brisk and cold. There were bundled up families flying kites and enjoying the day. There were even barefooted kids playing in the shallow water of the waves as they spread across the beach, then receded; they seemed as shore birds, running forward as the water pulled back, running back as the waves spread forward. I found myself reflecting on that. There’s something to learn, there, I suppose.
…This coffee is simply dreadful. I add sugar and the available non-dairy creamer. Still awful. I’m still drinking it…
I gave up beach walking when my legs became tired, and trudged patiently up those many steps once more. Room not yet ready, I headed into town and, masked and distant, and wandered through enticing antique shops.
In a shop filled with carefully crafted miniatures, I find room after room of furnishings that seem to be idealized versions of various stages of my own aesthetic, and wonder if, after all, so many of them could really have come from… doll houses?
The tourist “traps” that line the street are the sort common to any seaside town I’ve visited… saltwater taffy shops, “old time” candy stores, antique shops, t-shirts, sea shells, and nautically themed whatsits of all kinds (lighthouse sculptures, pirate “treasure”, glass fishing floats and paperweights, and “the world’s best” of some local dish). I wandered until I was more distracted by my own thoughts than engaged by what I saw in front of me, and returned again to the hotel, and to the beach, to walk and reflect awhile longer.
I sat for a long while, occasionally attempting to light a joint in the fierce coastal “breeze” without success.
I spent a couple of contented hours walking, and thinking. Reflecting on lessons learned, both generally (and recently), and also specifically (with regard to my most recent job, and how to make good use of what I learned in future roles). It was time well-spent. Aside from the wind and my tinnitus, the only thing I was hearing was… me. I walked the beach listening deeply to what the woman in the mirror has to say… about life… about love… about work… about a future that is unknown (and largely unknowable). I contemplated the confounds of expectations and assumptions.
…At check in time, I made my way to my room, let myself into this small space that is more or less my own (until check out time), and unpacked my baggage – literally, and metaphorically.
…Damn this is dreadful coffee. Wtf? Why am I putting myself through this? LOL I stare into the cup, warm in my hand, astonished by its prodigious awfulness with a certain amount of respect; it’s a hell of an achievement for a cup of coffee to be this bad.
I took time to reflect on all I’d seen, and on my notes, and the many “living metaphors” the day had presented to me.
I ask myself “the hard questions” on my mind as the day becomes evening… What matters most? What has me chained to some past moment? What have I accepted as the basis of my sense of self? Is that truly “who I am”? How do I free myself to soar to greater heights? Where does my path lead? The moments, questions, and the thoughts they carry with them crash onto the shore of my consciousness, and recede one by one. I find “embracing change” to be a process, and an ongoing practice. Taking some time alone to be with my thoughts – and, unavoidably, with my self, is a useful break for “sorting things out”. For finding the signal in the noise. Life may not have a map, but I can sure jot down some notes as I might if I were writing down directions to go from here to … somewhere else. It’s important to be clear on the desired destination. It’s important to be aware of where I stand right now. 🙂 With those things in mind, how much more easily can I begin again?
…It’s that time, isn’t it? Beginning again, I mean. The new job starts tomorrow. The new laptop was delivered Friday, and is waiting for me to set it up.
…Fucking hell I am missing my Traveling Partner this morning. I missed him ferociously last night, too. The value in missing him has nuances that are worthwhile experiences of their own. Missing him reduces the likelihood that I will take his precious presence in my life for granted. Missing him reinforces how much I enjoy him being part of my experience. Being absent the many things he does for me (and for us), large and small, reminds me that I legit don’t do as well for myself on my own as I seem able to in this specific partnership. (Not dissing myself or minimizing how much I appreciate myself for (and as) myself, just saying there’s a ton of stuff that just doesn’t seem to stay on my radar, and my sometimes general lack of fucks to give, or pain, results in more chaos than I easily manage… and that seems far less likely in his company, and with his help.)
…And both of us make an excellent cup of coffee that is so much better than this warm brown liquid that I’ve decided can’t at all be called “coffee” – it’s just that bad, and I am seriously missing something better… and my partner… this morning. 🙂
The sun is not yet up. Check out time is not for another 3 hours. There is time to walk on the beach, time for a bite of breakfast, and time to find a better cup of coffee. LOL There’s time to begin again.
A group of rocks along the shore, exposed at low tide, inaccessible at high tide. Even in that, there is something to reflect on, a metaphor in action, something to learn about who I am, and where I am headed.
I look at the clock, and see daylight beginning to show through the curtains. Definitely time to begin again. 🙂
Evening Light 