He looks so young in the picture. So young that she remembers how she felt about him when they met. She hadn’t seen the picture in a long time, and the rush of feelings it produced surprised her. Those were good years. And since she was back ‘home’, back in New England, she wanted to sit in that same restaurant, be in the same place where they once were happy. Just once more. And she wanted it to be today, but she had awoken to rain on the roof. Rain that sounded like it was going to stick around, even though the weather report said mostly sunny for the day. She told herself that it would stop, the clouds would break up. Drive in the rain she thought, then the sun will come out when you get there. The urge to go proved too much and she set out east, to the tip of Cape Cod.
In case she couldn’t take pictures she stopped for the orange flowers that she was seeing everywhere on Cape Cod. She made a mental note to do a day of all the flowers on the Cape. Beautiful flowers spilling over fences and stone walls, but she’d do that another day. Today she was on a mission.
Along the way she turned at a sign for Fort Hill, thinking she might get pictures. The road climbed the hill, but there was a parking lot handy and she pulled in. The rain had stopped and she was about to walk down a trail towards the ocean but a sign stopped her. It said, “Deer tick habitat,” and she hesitated. Another hiking couple arrived, and the husband insisted that if you take a head to toe shower, and he waved his arms to illustrate what he meant, you won’t have a tick problem. He knew because he had had Lyme disease four times, he said. Not feeling reassured she drove the car up to the top of the hill and found a parking lot with a view. And was encouraged by the sky.
It did seem that the clouds were breaking up, but once she continued her drive it began to rain in earnest. Still she continued…
A Snowbird's Life Through the Lens 