I arrived in Vero Beach to hang with old friends and met a new friend, a sister, it turns out, who is connected to the family of a woman who was in my coven back in Connecticut. Because of that connection, Robin invited me to stay in her driveway. I arrived just she learned her mother, whom she cares for at home, was in the final chapter of life. We are now down to the last couple of pages. Maybe paragraphs.

I laugh because just in case I had any thoughts of driving to the beach, my knees continue to inform me they are not walking me along the high tide line or any other line. I met my deadlines and my next project can wait. This gift of living in the moment has me suspended in time. The rest of the world is carrying on, but I don’t feel a part of it. There are layers of some kind of softness blanketing the house, the property. Even my skoolie. And we are not alone. Spirits are all around.