Brilliant Day on the Ocean

Although I do not imagine it is completely easy to maintain a positive and cheerful attitude on the heels of every misfortune, I am nonetheless capable of rising to the occasion in this instance.  It is a quarter past seven o'clock in the morning and I have what I believe to be the inordinate privilege to stare from my dining room perch at the rollicking green surf of the Atlantic Ocean on the nearby white sandy beach.  The sky is a clear baby blue tempered like an incarnadine rose; the temperature is a bit cooler than normal but very comfortable; the palm trees waver in the air.  This is the first morning I've been settled in the condominium since my latest emergency visit to the hospital on February 24th last.

I have admittedly a vulgar and unaccommodating dedication to habit and intention.  Being here, doing what I am now doing, thankfully fulfills both distortions.  In its simplest terms, owing to the serendipity of all that has transpired within the past three weeks (since February 10th when I had my initial bicycle fall at Ponce Inlet), I am now gleefully able to rejoice in another Saturday on Daytona Beach Shores. I cannot but relish the dubious fortune of having discovered my underlying heart condition which now appears to have been addressed by the implant of a Pacemaker. Granted the expedition may have been somewhat less arduous if the problem had been more apparent from the start - rather than having to eclipse its import through the process of two tumults - but better late than never. I'm even tempted to relax the seeming disadvantage by attributing it to the doldrums of the month of February in general, before things begin the seasonal incline to warmer and more sublime weather of March.

If I am to be perfectly honest I must confess my smug delight at being able to fulfill our anticipated sojourn on Daytona Beach Shores (including a visit to Longboat Key at the beginning of April) before our departure to Canada for the summer.  There were moments when we fully expected that I may have had to return to Canada for my surgery - which in turn would have closed the door on my return here for the season. It is impossible completely to relate the euphoria but it has a good deal to do with performing one's plans and altering those plans as mindfully as feasible in an otherwise gruelling situation. I would have considered it such a loss to have shortened our stay here by one last month.  Now however we have the singular pleasure of lingering - even though in a modified way - for these final weeks.  And it counts as no small compliment that we can also carry out our dream of visiting Longboat Key one last time before our return home.  It is no secret that we have fallen hopelessly in love with Longboat Key; I am almost embarrassed to say that it denotes for me a mystical venue, a hidden pleasure, a dream-come-true.

What makes this appeal so comical is that a year ago I would have mocked any compliment of the Gulf Coast, preferring instead the allure of the Ocean. But once we encountered the water on the edge of Longboat Key (pointedly another barrier island) I was hooked! I admit too that the isolation of Longboat Club Road is a compelling attraction.