Thursday morning I went on a very long walk. I was talking with my friend ShyGuy from Germany over Skype on my phone as I walked. (Isn't technology crazy?) He kept me company and we had a great conversation about philosophy, difficult people, Taoism, mindfulness, Quora, science, running, all sorts of things.
When I got back, I plunked myself down at a little table behind our vacation house and this delightful cool breeze wafted through.
Early Wednesday morning, we couldn't sleep. Around 3am, we just both got up. For whatever reason, my inner toddler, little mako popped out. Missy got excited, and used the opportunity to take him (or is that me, or maybe us? Whatever.) out on a spontaneous field trip.
We dressed quietly, and slipped from the house. We walked around the island, going down to a boat landing. We stared up at the moon and the stars.
At one point, we came to this intersection that had this really weird blue light traffic light that he (I? Again, whatevs!) was really fascinated with.
We eventually wound up on the beach, next to a sand castle, laying together, waiting for the sun to come up.
It's been a very vanilla vacation, and little mako has been mostly asleep in the back of my head since we left Virginia. It was super special to get that quality, sneaky, alone mommy-little time together.
My wife Missy is a photographer. She takes her fancy SLR camera with her most places, has some sophisticated photo editing tools on her phone, and always is on the lookout for a good shot. She particularly likes nature photographs, like cherry blossoms, sunrises, and sunsets.
She's really, really quite good.
It's a passion for her. She's the sort of person who loves a good souvenir, and likes to collect things. I think that's great.
I'm a fan of people having passions, having several of my own. One of these is her passions. (I know, that's a little meta.)
I love seeing Missy's passions get sparked. Often, when I'm with her on one of her photography jaunts, I'll sneak a picture of her taking a picture.
Just like this:
She was sure digging that sunset. And I was digging her digging it.
On Monday, I went out for a good long walk/run. I intended to do several miles. I was listening to a good book, Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings, and was bopping along at a good clip. Everything was going great. There was some rain from time to time, but I didn't mind, because it was really, really hot out.
Then my bluetooth headphones died a sudden, and permanent death, and I decided it was time to go home.
Now I have a really, really terrible sense of direction. I often joke that if I was stuck inside a wet paper bag, naked, with my butt touching the back of the bag, I wouldn't be able to find my way out.
I didn't want to keep my phone out, for fear I'd rainwater-fry it just like I did my headphones.
Luckily, I had some landmarks to help me find my way. Like this one.
Yup. Sharky's Restaurant. Complete with giant shark statue bursting out of the wall of the restaurant.
I followed the landmarks, and ducked under awnings and various shelters to check the map on my phone from time to time.
Without too much struggle, I did make it home okay.
I was grateful for that! (And grateful there was a place not too far away where I could pick up some new headphones the next day.)
A while back my nephew married a sweet, lovely girl from Japan. He moved there, and eventually they had a baby. (He's adorable.) Now they're back in the United States. I've known my niece-by-marriage for a while now, having met her when they were first dating. She's hysterically funny, often hyperkinetic in the best way, and very loving. She's phenomenal.
Her side of the family came to the US for their wedding, where I got to meet them. They wanted immediately to connect with us, and help grow the family. This shows in countless little ways.
For example, when Marybeth (my sister in law) visited them in Japan earlier this year, they tromped all over Kyoto looking for a painted fan for me with a copy of Hokusai's Great Wave Off Kanagawa on it, as a present for me. (It's my favorite painting.)
I love that these sweet, gentle, kind people are family to me.
Nowhere does this show more than the relationship between Marybeth and Y., my niece's mother. They're best buddies, co-grandma's together, and thick as thieves. She came back to the US with my niece and the baby. We're on vacation down in Florida visiting with them all.
I snipped this little picture of them out walking together this morning as I was out on my run, and it filled me with all sorts of joy.
