Unwinding in Southampton

Being in Southampton brings me to a quieter state of mind. The reasons for this are many. First, it’s a small town, which means everything is easier. There is no traffic, or at least no traffic to speak of. Not like the Beltway around Washington, that’s for sure. And because there is no traffic, it’s easy to get around whether on foot, on bike, or in a car. It’s also on the water and not just on any old ocean, lake or river. It’s on Lake Huron. Since I was raised on another of the great lakes, Erie, it all seems totally familiar to me. The fog horn, the fresh water smell, the flat stones, the cottonwood trees rippling in the breeze, the sandy beach, the sunsets across the lake – all of this reminds me of home. Finally, being in Canada brings back so many happy memories of the time I spent here with John in the early years of our marriage. We lived in Peterborough for two years and in Toronto for ten before we moved back to the States and everything changed. Our children were born here. Our close friends from those early days still live here. It feels good to reconnect. And with the unwinding will come . . . who knows? I feel a need to simplify my life, to prioritize the many things I do and let some of them go. I’m going to try to just “be” for the two weeks we are here and let things settled out. Maybe a truth, or at least a pattern, will emerge.