30 Days of Gratitude - Day 27

 Day 27 – November 27 – “Give thanks for your favorite place. Why is it your favorite place?”

My “favorite place” changes with my mood and my age.

Historically my favorite place has always been the beach. Keith’s sister, Dianne, had a cottage on the beach at Gulf Shores. It is where we walked along the surf at night, built sand turtles, and spent hours talking and laughing. It is where Keith asked me to marry him. Back then, the road and beach were deserted for miles on either side, except for one little oyster bar.

In about 1979, Hurricane Frederic blew away most of Gulf Shores, including Dianne’s cottage and the oyster bar. In the years that followed, Dianne rebuilt the cottage, this time up on stilts, with a modern kitchen, and large enough to sleep 8 adults.

All the surrounding property was built up. No longer is there a view. From Dianne’s deck the only view is a multistory timeshare building directly across the road. No view of the beach at all, and no access to it unless you walk a half mile down the road.  Going to the beach became a chore rather than a pleasure.

Then we started going to the mountains. Renting a chalet up in the area overlooking Gatlinburg, TN twice a year, and inviting Mark and Aaron’s friends to join us, made for such laughter, music, and happiness.

Then everyone grew up, Keith died, and Mark, Aaron and I made one last trip to Gatlinburg in 2008 to have a little ceremony and leave some of his ashes on the top of one of the mountains up there.  That was my last trip to the mountains.

I’ve always loved being at home. But once your family is out of your house, it sometimes ceases to feel like a “home”. While there are still memories there, they fade over time, and over the chores of upkeep, yardwork, cleaning, blowing leaves, changing light bulbs and eating leftovers in front of the TV.

Right now, my favorite place, and the place I spend a lot of time every week, is Alabama Veterans Memorial Park. The only two who live at my house now are Jaco and me. So about 3 times a week, we go up to AVMP and take a walk to the flagpole. Usually we are the only 2 in the park, so we have it all to ourselves. I usually talk to him as we hike up the road. I point out dead trees, Boy Scout bricks in the path,  and always comment on the state of the flag up on the flagpole. More often than not, I sit on a bleacher and remember … there I go again! Fond memories of Veterans Day and Memorial Day stepstone dedications, the year several of us worked as “docents” during the summer, and the day  a favorite 95-year-old WWII veteran, who was mostly blind, but whose friend brought him up there to sit with me, asked me to marry him.

He was a widower, who had 18 children by one wife, about 12 of whom were still living. I laughed and told him I could never “keep up with” his wife’s “activity”. I just don’t have the energy. We all laughed and he said, “Well, we didn’t have no TV back then.”

Yep. My favorite place right now is definitely AVMP.