Playing For Keeps

Good morning m'friends!

How can it be Sunday already?  ... so soon?

Ours was a great 3-day weekend.  Yours?

Because I'd a gift card burning a hole in my pocketbook, Tom and I began by making a drive to a favorite restaurant.  Normally I'm so deadline driven, enjoying a leisurely lunch was an unaccustomed treat.

We were both too full to enjoy one of their signature deserts ... but that didn't stop us from bringing home thick slices of pumpkin and strawberry cheesecakes ... then falling into a caloric coma.  (*smile*)

* * *

Perspective's a funny thing.

The Estrella Mountains near our home, for instance.

Granted, this is a lousy picture -- but smack in the middle there's a solitary peak.  An upside down "V", more imposing than it appears here.  My altar, if you will.  "Wherever we are, God is."

Anyway, not 5 miles east, I look back and it's become a broken tooth.  Another 10, it's a lumpy wart. 

Later in the day I do a mental eye-roll, listening to Guest Services associates raving over "Step Brothers" (for instance) ... "the greatest movie, ever made!" 

... then I remember the 1961 letter my mother kept, her daughter's enthusiastic script lauding Hayley Mills' "Parent Trap" as "the Best! Ever!"  
Guilty, party of one.

Perspective often comes with a price.

On several occasions I've been guilty of forcing an outcome.  Remember that old song, "Falling in Love with Love"?  Substitute "Love" with "Change of venue" and that was me.  Destination addiction, yep. 

But this time, this move feels solid.

See, there's a certain fella on the other end.  A younger man.  I've not known about him very long; and I've yet to hear him speak.  Still, I've become infatuated with Sean Dietrich.

Like the song of the Lorelei, his words feel like home.

If you've a moment, may I share a few disjointed turns of a phrase?

 ....puts a hurting on two slabs of catfish roughly the size of men’s work boots. 

... A place with pine on the floors, pine on the walls and pork on the plate.

... (stories) that make a grown man leak saltwater.

...  enough to break a stainless steel heart.

.....a single parent who'd raised her daughter into adulthood on nothing but pennies and late shifts."

..... the kinds of food that give cardiologists panic attacks.

Finally, his reflections while in the midst of Hurricane Nate's wrath:  Thoughts of picking wildflowers ... watching the sun go down over the Escambia River ... being kissed by a litter of bloodhound puppies "Before I get sucked off the map ...."

Me? I want to own an iron skillet someday ... and a pair of cowboy boots.  And sit by a sunny window sipping coffee.

What a relief, knowing what I want to be when I grow up.

I hope yours is a wonderful new week!

Hugs from Phoenix,

Myra