Ahhhh, just what I needed

I've had my share of sadness, people who make me want to run (or attack!), and stressful situations lately. This weekend has been just what the doctor ordered. Plenty of outside, the Coaching Goddess and a good flick.

I'm sticking to my guns in a "best beach" vote for Anna Maria Island. There's nothing more annoying to me than trudging beyond what used to be dunes to find back-to-back umbrellas, noise and smoking pigs taking up the nice view and salty smell. At our little spot on Anna Maria, you'll find sea oats, blue green water and plenty of places to park your chair with a large people-free radius. I enjoy watching kids run, laugh and splash in the anemic waves, as long as it's not 10 million of them. It's just right on Anna Maria. Yesterday I sat with my behind in the surf, read The Optimist's Daughter, dug my hands in the sand and took a deep dip in the cool, unusually wavy water. The large frigate bird circling over head transposed a definite feeling of freedom and ease.

The Coaching Goddess always provides trusted friendship, laughs and insight to a life that is more complicated than it should be. After a short shopping jaunt, we enjoyed a Cosmo (well I did) and a little bite to eat at McAllister's before heading to see The Soloist. YOU MUST see this film, the true story of a LA Times reporter who discovered a Julliard educated violinist living on the streets with schizophrenia as a homeless man.

It's about living life as best you can and accepting others for who they are...and are not. Other than the obvious societal questions it raises about mental illness, homelessness, etc., it sheds light on other important quandries of life... Is your gift or talent any less if you are unable to share it with the world?

So with a relaxed brain, I headed out this morning with Flanders to enjoy the wind, the beach sunflowers, parenting ospreys and feeding spoonbill at Emerson Point Park in Palmetto. Oh, heaven! With slober dripping down the back window, encrusted sand and wet dog hair on the seat, we drove home feeling full and alive.