	Member:
	Evangelical Press Association
	Fellowship of Christian Newspapers
	Christian Humor Writers
	National Society of Newspaper Columnists

Random Musings Blog archives

Key West - Day Seven

February 20, 2006 by Joanne Brokaw

My cell phone rang today with a call from the publicist in Nashville that I work for part time. They didn't realize I was still on vacation, but assure me that I'm missing icky cold weather.

For two days in the The Key West Citizen, the daily newspaper, there has been a story about the crummy weather in the Northeast, a story with a Rochester, NY dateline. Apparently the wind chill makes the temp in good old Rochester feel like 10 below.

Today I am a beachcomber, walking the surf on the beach near our house, bucket in hand, head bent to look for small shells or pieces of coral. I could live like this, I think, combing the beach for treasures that I can turn into ... something. The beauty of the shells and fish and water fuels a desire to create, to write or paint or even glue shells onto earring backs and make jewelry. I could live like this, living off the ocean and making trinkets to sell to tourists who want to bring a piece of paradise home to the rat race. I could write stories and publish them in books, stories that people can buy and bring back to the arctic northeast and read while they sit in their SUVs waiting for Jimmy to finish basketball practice and Suzy to get out of dance classes, stories that capture the coral sunset and the salty breeze and the sleek shimmer of a fish darting through the turquoise water, and make the reader weep with jealously for the soothing ocean breeze and day without end, because all they see is a concrete jungle and ticking clock warning them that they're late late late for something that in the whole scheme of life doesn't amount to a hill of beans.

I could live a life like this. I should live a life like this, no matter where I am, a life that sees each day as an opportunity to treasure God's creation and savor every breath and notice every bird's cheep or cat's meow and feel the earth under my feet and the breeze in my hair and the sun on my face as I look towards heaven to thank God for just being alive.

Go Back