Three (Sand) Dollars Worth of Kindness

It’s still pretty warm out here on the balcony. I’m on Dauphin Island for three more days. It’s 81° but feels like 84° because of the humidity, which is 90%. Even at that high a percentage, all it gets you is a 3° bump? That hardly seems fair. It seems like if the wind is blowing over 5mph in New York in the winter, they give the wind chill factor as being at least 10° cooler. That’s not fair to hotness to be so biased toward coldness in letting other factors factor into how cold or hot the weather “feels.” To make the degrees symbol on a Mac, you hit “option + shift + 8.” Speaking of wind, it’s blowing at about 5mph now. Off comes the shirt. It’s too hot out here to be wearing a shirt. I was wearing the blue (synthetic fabric) golf shirt I bought when I found myself in Birmingham a few weeks ago with nothing but the sweaty gym clothes I was wearing and an invitation to go to dinner with Zach and Miranda and Zach’s parents, Sharon and Gary who should be named Michael because he looks more like a Michael than a Gary. But I’ll call him Gary if everyone insists. Sharon, Zach’s mom and I have now become friends. She sends me one pictorial reminder each day that I should one day make my way to Scotland. The trip will be a spiritual pilgrimage for me in honor of my mother. I’d like to take my nieces and nephews. It’s not Sharon’s fault it’s still hot out here on the balcony tonight. I really don’t mind that it’s still this warm. I love the breeze– now that the shirt’s off. I love the beach. I wish my mother were here.

I just ate two big bowls of gumbo. It was the best gumbo I’ve ever eaten and it was made from local ingredients by the man who caught the shrimp. I have been so blessed recently to eat so much food grown or caught or raised by the people who gave or sold it to me. I think it’s healthier to be closer to our food.

I’m sunburned. We went out into Mississippi Sound this morning and went to a remote beach about a mile away and spent the day. There were about 5 sand dollars found, none by me. My gracious hosts, the family of a longtime friend of mine gave me three sand dollars. I’m taking them home to put with other treasures in my sacred medicine box (the sand dollars, not the family).

There is magic in kindness.

First thing this morning I went for a run on the beach. I’ve been listening to Huy Williams’ Never Get Old, not because I give a shit about aging but because it sounds like Tommy Tysper’s music for the XXL Sports United airport commercial. Have you seen it? Oh my God, I can’t get enough of it. Click here to watch if you haven’t seen it. It has 2.3 million views on YouTube and a half million of them are mine.

Okay, I have to go to bed. I want to get up and do it again tomorrow– run on the beach that is. And I want to listen to that music that reminds me of that other music because I can’t get enough of it.

Today, while running, I meditated on the practice of continually turning my will and life over to the care of God. Judge away. This is my life and I’m finally going to live it the way I see fit. Yeah, God.

See y’all tomorrow.