Slow Down You’re Moving Too Fast
You gotta make this morning last-
Lately, when I get asked where we are from, and I say, Venice Florida, the person will say “oh, you’re almost done with your Loop.” I, very quickly go into denial. I struggle with the idea that this adventure will soon be over.
When a Looper crosses their wake, it means that you have made the Great Loop Circle and have successfully returned to where you started from. For Jim and I and the Happy Destiny, that place is Casey Key Marina in Osprey Florida. It is a mere 1000 miles from where we are docked right now in Columbus Mississippi. By all counts, from here to the Florida Panhandle is only 400 miles, which we could pull off in a week if we traveled every day.
But- we aren’t going to travel that fast, and we’re not going to go anywhere today, or tomorrow or the next day. We have slowed down, and I for one am glad about that. I don’t want this adventure to be over- ever!
It is Friday October 19th and we are planning a road trip up to Nashville and a quick trip from Nashville to Los Angeles. I’m super excited about this. I’ve never been to Nashville and I have become hokey enough from being in the South, that a trip to the Grand Ol’ Opry sounds like a hoot! We will take a few days to make the 370 mile trip and I’m looking forward to seeing the scenery from land. It certainly will add a different perspective from that on the water. A few day trip back to Los Angeles will offer us time to reconnect with our “Tribe,” see the kids and grandkids, and once again, experience the noise and traffic which will remind us of why life on the water is so amazing!
Yesterday, I did laundry with Wanda, a looper on her boat SoulShine. Connecting with another woman, if only over a washer and dryer cycle, is something I really enjoy. We have something very big in common. We are Loopers. We are women Loopers, which makes us badasses! We exchanged stories of how we got to where we are, what Loop experiences we’ve enjoyed most, what scary times we have encountered, which battles we have picked, and which battles we both have chosen to let go. We spoke of our families. Our children. We spoke of the past hurts and how, today, we have come to some sort of peace within ourselves. We spoke of how blessed we are to have been given the opportunity to be on this Great Loop Adventure. We both have a story, and I think after sharing with her over laundry, we both returned to our boat-homes knowing that we are changed forever and that is a great gift to have been given. She left this morning to continue her journey down the river. I awoke to a really nice text message that said this -
“...Good morning. Hope I'm not waking you up. Just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed talking to you yesterday. You are a healer in many ways. Safe travels. Hope to see y'all again. ✌️❤️“
Little does she know how much she helped me.
Let’s talk about kind people for a moment. Being in the South, Jim and I have encountered the most amazing folks. They are simple, unpretentious, and have manners like I have never encountered. If you ask a question the answer will come with a “yes ma’am” or a “yes sir.” When you are sitting in a restaurant, a stranger walking by will ask you how your day has been and when you leave a place you will be told to have a good day. Young boys open doors for you and look you in the eye. People here don’t stare at their phones at the dinner table. They talk. They engage, and they are present. I don’t think I have seen a kid with a game in their hands. When people talk, you must listen closely because their accents are very heavy. It’s so cute. Even the commercials on the TV are thick in their verbiage. We are definitely in the South. It’s a simple life.
I don’t miss Los Angeles at all. Sure, I miss my kids and grandchildren. I miss our people. I do not miss the fast paced, rat race. I do not miss having to drive alongside 20 million people who are all trying to get somewhere fast. I do not miss the noise. I do not miss the smog, the shootings, the news. I don’t miss how rude people can be. I don’t miss chaos and drama.
I love the starlight. The clouds. Blue skies and the sound of frogs. The sound of a boat motor and of waves crashing on the bow makes me happy. Walking through mud, rain on my face, and wind whipping through my hair is awesome! Driving on a pitch black road with no other car in sight is fantastic. Sunrises and sunsets, hole in the wall rib joints and funky loaner cars with 200,000 miles on them, make me smile. Walmart is my new best friend. Finding AA meetings in different cities, with different people and their different stories which are all the same, renews my own recovery. I’m so grateful to be clean and sober! I have never felt so alive as I do now. What a blessing. I cannot tell you enough times about how this trip has changed me. It’s no wonder I don’t want it to end.
I’m going to make Jim drive really slow.
Life, I love you, all is groovy❤️
