It is early....only 8:00. We walk into town to look for breakfast and find this cafe, Mocha Motts. I sit at the little table outside to wait for Ken to bring our food. There are just 5 tables and they are all filled. I see several cars go by and a few people stroll down the street....
I have come to Martha's Vineyard because of Susan Branch's Blog. I had hoped to run into her while here so I could give her the gift I brought to say thank you for her Blog and all the ways it has enriched my life--like allowing us to see Martha's Vineyard's charms through her eyes--which is why we came. So we walk over to her house and leave my gift on her front porch. There is a policeman out front directing traffic around some construction further down her street. Here I am leaving her porch, hoping she has not seen me lingering while Ken takes my picture....
When I return to our house I e-mail her that I've left the gift along with the flowers I've been enjoying all week. The policeman must have knocked on her door to tell her some lady left something on her porch because when she e-mails back to thank me it is clear she had already found them. We finish packing the car and head for the ferry. We drive past Susan's house and the policeman sees me and calls out that she got the flowers! I think he must have worried I was a stalker!
We plan to park the car in the boarding line and walk around for half an hour but when we arrive we are told there is a ferry leaving in a few minutes. It is the freight ferry. I'm disappointed, but realize because we arrived an hour early, our allotted time is up. We stand at the rear of the ferry amongst the trucks and watch as Martha's Vineyard grows more distant....
Goodbye lovely schooner....
I wave to the people on the ferry headed for the Island, cup my hands around my mouth and shout, "You're going to love it!"....
I am home now....writing my travel blog and reliving the special moments. To go on vacation is to vacate one's live for awhile. It comes from the Latin word "vacare" which means "left empty". We need these times away from our routine so we can open ourselves to new experiences and in order to receive something in return we must be emptied of our old routine.
I look at my collection of shells and think of what I have read in "Gift From the Sea"....
"The sea does not regard those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. To dig for treasures shows not only impatience and greed, but lack of faith. Patience, patience, patience is what the sea teaches. Patience and faith. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach--waiting for a gift from the sea." Anne Morrow Lindbergh
