Troppo

Like all enlightened people George Harrison found the beach after the Beatles. He got a place on a mountain overlooking the ocean in Hawaii. He’d had a string of strong solo albums until he did one titled “Gone Troppo” about life at the beach. It did not sell well so George said “What the hell?” and took several years off to be a beach bum before coming back and starting the “Traveling Wilburys” to finish his career.

On the album is this catchy little tune “Gone Troppo” that is just full of visuals of life at the beach.

I am one of those people who live at the beach and vacation at other beaches.

This morning in the warm dark of the back deck I sipped coffee and petted Goddess. No breeze disrupted the quiet and salt water hung in the air. Then Kristen comes blowing making tons of noise screaming for coffee. Her long blond hair is brushed but the rest of her looks like she has just drug herself out of bed. Which she had!

Goddess was immediately suspicious. She jumped on her bed and just started at me. I knew what she thinking. “He’s leaving again, damn him!”

I’m off again to St. Martin where Conner and I will reform “Team Mike” and spontaneously figure out ways to make ourselves laugh without ceasing. Carlos, Verna and my other Chelsea will be there. And Nathalie is already worried because Conner has booked time with her (waxing will be involved).

I’m looking forward to this trip because the last couple of times I was on St. Martin it was a much more difficult time. In November with Conner and Hania I was still just trying to cope managing so many radical changes in my life occurring at the same time. At one point Conner told me that I wasn’t doing all that good. Hania kept trying to get me to eat.

Over Christmas I was just trying to get through the holidays without getting depressed. But I learned that it’s never a good idea to be in a foreign country with an expired passport and was ordered by none other than Trish DuPriest to “get your ass home now.” So I did.

This time though, I feel good. Productivity has suddenly become abundant again and possibilities suddenly abound. There are things that I will actually miss while I’m gone … a birthday party of a little girl who has come to mean a lot to me … Chuck Courtenay’s concert at Marlin Monroe’s …to see if Franklin (who is brown) survives another day … Goddess, the beloved back deck and the sad little holy dock.

Yet this trip comes at a good time. It will wash the taste away of the disrupted Christmas. It is a dividing line of finishing the Sabbatical because when I return there is a lot that I will be doing. Before this trip I wallowed in lost love but now I’ll come back full of it and ready to share it. Bikinis will be in season when I return to Tybee and there is a belly or two that I really enjoy looking at!

For the past couple of years I was in a state of shock in St. Martin. For the first time I was traveling alone and it was depressing. Conner and Hania took on the role of caregivers as good friends do during difficult days. Whenever I would return from St. Martin my close friends and the ones I love the most would be waiting on me to see how I was handling things.

These are the people that I will keep posted on this trip because they care and have become daily constants in my life. I love them so. Rather than hooking up with Conner needing him to drag me into good times, today I just can’t wait!

And in just a few hours I’ll be standing in the surf of the aqua blue bay staring at the island of Anguilla in the distance and watching the waves crashing over the reef and then gently settling into the bay. I’ll probably compare that image to my life. Not too long ago I was crashing around through life. Now a gentleness has come to dominate it.

So I leave looking forward to a celebration of how far I’ve come and very much looking forward to coming back for the beginning of summer on Tybee Island. And all of the crazy love that encompasses me there.