FLOW

4 a : to proceed smoothly and readily

What did I do over the last eight days?  I didn't write.  I didn't do a lot of deep thinking.  I didn't read a single blog post.  I didn't look at Facebook or watch TV.  I didn't hear my daughters' voices or see their beautiful faces.  Some of this was intentional, some merely the result of letting the week wash over me and take me where the tide guided.

Here's where the water and breeze of Tobago took me:

to the beach - with a dense, thick sand that didn't stick to my feet, my shins, my hands the way the fine white sand of the Gulf Coast does.

to the pool - where I could dip in and swim and then sit in the shade and read.

to a book - I wrote less because I read more.  I finished one book on the plane trip to Tobago and spent a great deal of the week making my way through a 1,000 page sequel to a book I enjoyed earlier this year.

to the bed - for naps, a bit of reading and some much-needed snuggling with my husband of fifteen years.


to laughter, relaxation and respite.  The friends who traveled with us were a joy to be with.  They make me laugh, know us well and were the perfect companions - happy to share a breakfast table, but equally willing to let the ebb and flow of the week bring us together and send us out in different directions.  I ended the week with gratitude for this friendship of fifteen years and dreams about where to go to celebrate an even two decades of marriage.

I'll be honest.  I could look back over this week and see all that I didn't do and berate or shame myself for not having more to show after a week in a Caribbean haven.  I have no tan, no journal entries, no blog posts, no art.  What I do have is a sense of having taken a deep breath and let it out slowly.  There's much to be said for bringing no agenda to vacation.  God didn't give me what I'd imagined (deep revelations or stories flowing from my pen), but he gave me the gift of rest.  The gift of laying afloat in the water and simply going with the flow.