Keeping a Journal

This morning I was reading my 2008 Elusive Moose journal that I kept while we were staying Up North.   My heart flipped a few times with silliness when I re-lived this entry.....

Oh, this morning I met a most interesting fellow.  As I was putting the security bar across the dumpster (the bar keeps the bears out) a man came out of the men's bathroom.  He was wearing a plaid flannel shirt, brown cotton pants, had a few teeth missing.  He was probably in his late 70s.  I made a usual comment about the weather.  Just like that, a conversation took off between the two of us that should have lasted longer than it did.  A retired history teacher, a passionate reader, and himself filled with rich family ties to American history.  At present, I'm reading "Saints and Strangers" which is a story about the people who came over on the Mayflower. This man knew of and had read this book and shared that he is a descendant of  Mr. Cook.  Both sides of his family fought against each other in the Civil War.  He talked about  so many interesting things.....one was  eating hominy and how his mother used to make it all the time.  That's something I've never eaten, but I told him that I'd make a point to buy and eat hominy.  He and I shared our fondness of scallops and Red Lobster Restaurants.  It was he who shared these things before I did, so he wasn't just agreeing with me, nor I with him.  Just an incredible exchange of common thoughts.  By a dumpster, no less.  I teased hubby about the guy that I met this morning and how we hit it off.  Even at 62, I can still find commonality with the opposite gender.

That is why I journal our vacations, stay-cations, and day-cations.  Ordinary occurrences would otherwise get sucked into the ocean of obscurity, gone forever. Journals keep them so we can re-live them as many times as we want.

Here's another journal entry from the Elusive Moose.....

Me and the Fuzzy One

While hubby fixed breakfast, Fuzzy One and I quietly strolled over to an empty campsite and sat on a big rock overlooking the lake.  I sipped coffee and thought nice thoughts.  The lake was calm, trees reflecting their autumn colors, sizes and shapes.  So quiet.  I wanted to wrap up the moment and take it back with me and hold it forever.  When we walked back to our campsite, hubby had breakfast ready.....homemade sausage, from a local meat market, with sunny-side up eggs.  My craving for citrus reared, so I ate half of a fresh lime.

Morning Meditation

Life is a non-stop adventure with opportunities to talk with strangers, share thoughts and memories with them, and sometimes simply sit on a rock beside a lake and do absolutely nothing.  If only we humans wouldn't have created the hustle and bustle, the drive and the thrive, the go-go-go idealistic life.  The faster we go, the less we will see along our way.  Man, I don't want to miss a thing while I'm here.  Every morning the blackboard is erased, and we're given a piece of chalk to draw our day.  If we're going too fast, our chalkboards will be filled with long lines of emptiness. And, then we'll have to leave.