Life without written words

Hi Friends,
My week of reading deprivation has come to a close.  I'm feeling refreshed and full of life experiences. It was difficult to stop my habit of reading, and at least once I gave in to peek at your comments (thank you for your wonderfulness!)

While away from the world of text, time slowed.  I recognized the arrival and release of various emotions.  I felt less distracted and enjoyed reconnecting with my husband, children and neighbors.

On Thursday, Richard and I decided to have an adventure downtown.  At Cheescakes by Alex, we shared conversation in the fading light, enjoying the sights and sounds of passing traffic and people.   At heart, Richard is a philosopher and I get wrapped up in the way his mind unfolds. 

It felt like we were in Europe.  At a sidewalk cafe, he enjoyed a scone and tea, while I munched on an Italian biscotti and coffee.  After our desert, we walked leisurely with hands clasped, under streetlamps, over cobblestones.  Passing great old buildings, we found ourselves admiring the marquee at the historic Carolina Theater.  We had arrived just in time to catch one of the summer film fest movies.  Inside this grand, old theater with huge marble pillars, we were carried to a past era of grand ambition.  We sat in the balcony, feeling small in the vast space that was lit with low lights on the side balcony seats.  The place conjured images of opera, of live theater and symphony.

We sat enthralled, watching ocean waves and surfers on the screen.  The film was Point Break with Keeanau Reeves and Patrick Swayze.

  What else could a girl ask for? I've always had this longing to go back in time and meet Richard in our younger lives.  Watching an eighties movie helped to make that illusion feel real.  Like teenagers, we skipped the boring parts of the movie to explore the theater and found a ball room on the third floor.  While the movie played below us, Richard twirled me around the dance floor in the dark.  The only light came from frosted glass windows, giving the illusion it was snowing outside.

After the movie ended, we returned home to the kids, all cuddled up and ready for sleep.


Today we are spending the last full day with Emily.   Yet we'll share a closing adventure as a family.  We have been invited to a wedding reception in Raleigh.  We've booked a hotel in our State Capitol.  I'm looking forward to wearing my new green dress, to seeing my high school friend and her prince charming. 

Last night I dreamed that Elliot boarded the plane with Emily.  I ran around the terminal searching for my son.  Then, around a corner appeared a security officer, waving.  Elliot was running to me, and slammed into me with wide open arms.  It was a message to appreciate the child still left to me.  That although I must release Emily for a while, Elliot is still here and is feeling this loss too. 

We will do it together.  Make it though until we are together again.