Last day in Key West - for a while

This was my last day here for a while & it has been a good one.

I took a very long walk along the sea wall & along the beach where I usually go. Thoughts of LaVerne were very much with me as I went along the waters' edge. The day we put her ashes in the ocean was very vivid. Most of my thoughts of her were happy ones, not the sad ones which have had their share of my time.

Near the end of the beach was a young man making a sculpture with rocks, shells, coconuts & other assorted items. It was all held together with gravity & balance. He was very meticulous about what went where, then balancing it in place. I watched quietly for a long time then asked if he had done it all himself. He said yes, but this was a very small one & he'd only been working on it a few days. He was an unemployed electrician who wanted to work & he felt that what he was doing would lead him to work or attract work to him. Watching him look for balance, centering & placing each item very carefully made me think work would come to him & hopefully soon. I thanked him for his time & his creation, as I felt very calm watching him work & the piece. I also felt very close to LaVerne.

As I left & walked away I felt a nudge from LaVerne to go back & give him some money, which is what she would have done. I got my scooter & returned to find him gone & the piece still there. As I looked at it for a while he came back & had a small cross with a rose on it all made from palm fronds. He was trying to find the right place for it when I said: My wife passed away a while back & every once in a while she nudges me from the other side to do something she might have done & thinks I ought to do. She would have given you this (a $20 bill) . Her name was LaVerne (I wrote her name in the sand) & she would have really liked what you've done here. Please remember her name as you work on this.

He was very touched & said he would tear this one down & make another one just for her. I said he could if he wanted to, but she would have like this one just fine.

Part of why I did this came from what Joe Kennedy said in his letter to a grieving father. The other part was so I could spend a few moments remembering some of the best of LaVerne.

Tomorrow I hit the road again for Sarasota. I'm looking forward to the drive through the keys & the Everglades & up that way. It's a different beauty & one that I have far more appreciation for now than I did as a kid when mom & me traveled the Tamiami Trail. Bon voyage!