Going home in the morning to Alabama, racing back ahead of Hurricane Milton, saying prayers for the Florida peninsula as we leave. Mother Nature can be forceful with her storms so please remember Florida in your prayers!

We enjoyed the beach this afternoon. God smiled and stopped the rain after lunch and we sat on the beach for several hours occasionally putting our toes in the salty water, walking the hard packed sand looking for shells and bird feathers, watching the kite surfer and a few braves souls riding the storm’s angry waves on their surf boards, laughing as the wind partied in our hair. The wind was ruffling the birds’ feathers and making them work their wings against the strong wind currents. I always think of birds as God’s feathered angels. I’ve gotten so much joy watching the ocean birds, beautiful in their flights over the waves. I love their muted plumage of grays and browns and blacks and whites, their scurrying feet on the sand, the plops of the webbed feet on the sea foam.

As we walked down the steps to the beach I saw black-eyed Susan’s blooming beside the handrails. Chief called me Susie when I started working with him because he said my eyes reminded him of those pretty yellow flowers. I started crying when I saw those little flowers knowing they were a blessing from Chief for a happy safe trip. I feel his presence as I glance across the grayish blue ocean, wishing he could see the ocean’s mighty magnificence, roaring with white capped waves.

I’ve never seen ocean foam like I saw today. The foam, snow white as cotton quilt backing, rolled up the beach and broke off in small cotton balls that bounced up and down the beach. The littlest of the sea birds would speedily run through the foam sending cotton balls in every direction. We were laughing with carefree abandon watching the antics of the birds gathered around us and my friend remarked, “Doesn’t take much to entertain us does it!” And that just got us laughing like idjuts. I was glad our youngest companion was not there to witness our hysterics!

Our youngest “golden girl” has kindly carried our luggage, chauffeured us around, put us out at the front doors of the thrift stores and boutiques and restaurants, laughed with us, taken photos of us. I know she is counting the minutes till she can be shed of the older, arthritic, deaf, blind, an incontinent women. She found our cellphones, showed us how to use our cellphones, charged our cellphones, washed the sand off our legs and shoes, fetched drinks and snacks, all with that beautiful smile on her face. She’s been so kind and sweet to us and her mother. She’s probably checking the Maps app right now for directions to put us out at Shady Oaks on the way home. She is a jewel and we love her very much!

“Getting older is the best thing that ever happened to me. I wake up every morning rejoicing that I’m still here with an opportunity to begin again and be better.” — Oprah Winfrey