Tuesday -- Perspective

 

We spotted this great white egret this morning on our bike ride out to Honeymoon Island. 

 

It was way off by itself in this field.  

 

The skies had some lovely clouds.

 

The gulf was calm.

We began our day with a pre-dawn walk on the Dunedin Causeway. The only light was the moonlight and the green lights on the bridge. It was a little after 6:00. The temperature was 75 degrees, which believe it or not feels cool up on the bridge over the water.

 

Not long afterwards, the first rays of light began to appear over the mainland.

 

And . . . , we're off to a brand-new day. 

Since it was only 8:00 and we had already finished our morning walk, we decided to go shopping at Target. We got there about 8:30. They open at 8:00, but the first hour is for seniors, the security guard at the front door informed us. So we waited with the other "younger" customers when we found out that you had to be 65 to qualify. We passed the time taking pictures of one another--at the same time, because who is thoughtful enough to take turns?

 

We picked up a new rug to replace the one that Dee Dee had soiled.  We tried to clean it, but it was beyond salvageable. We learned that the reason dogs vomit on rugs is because they need to secure their footing before they heave; otherwise, they might lose their balance and fall. We took up the other rugs, but left the brown one just in case--our oldest rug and the one that no longer goes with our decor. Alas, she only threw up one time.  

After lunch, we headed to Hammock Park to walk around in the shade.

We started off on the sidewalk by the Fine Art Center where we used to walk Dee Dee. It's such a nice walk. We have been making ourselves go to these places. We don't want to avoid them forever and only have memories of her. These places were selected with her needs in mind, but they are still worthy of visiting.

 

We saw this cool cloud from the Michigan Street sidewalk on the way to Hammock Park, looking towards the fire station.

We visited the Butterfly Garden, but we didn't see any butterflies--much to John's disappointment, only this cool sculpture and a few bumble bees.

 

We also saw these artistic posts in the Butterfly Garden. We're not sure of their purpose or if they even have one, other than looking colorful.

 Big trees in a jungle-like setting always make me feel small, like Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.

 

We had a heavy downpour for about 20 minutes, and then the sun came out again. The current in the street was so powerful that it moved our recycling bin twenty feet.

 

I read an article today about the pandemic and adjusting to a new reality and dealing with events that don't follow your plans. There were several good points, but the one that spoke to me in the midst of my current funk was that we should try to envision how we want to think of this moment years from now and how we got through it. The idea is that by envisioning how you want to look back on this loss and how you want to remember how you handled it you will begin to be that person now, instead of the paralyzed and sad person you are now. It's easy to get sucked into the pain of loss and disappointment, but is that how you want to remember the loss years from now?

 

It would be better to remember Dee Dee's life, her strong personality, and memorable events. That's where I wish to be years from now, so I might as well begin now.

 

Of course, that attitude does not mean avoiding grief and avoiding feeling the loss. You keep doing that at the same time that you are becoming your future self.

That article from the New York Times gave me a helpful perspective.

How to Cope When Everything Keeps Changing

Miles walked: 10.1
Miles biked: 11.75