A Möbius Sea

But for a dream, what would life would be?©

They say some live their lives backwards.

Could have misunderstood.

His, a Twilight Zone version.

Twisted that old cliché of beginning, dependency, ignored wishes, controller only to reverse order to the end.

A truer Möbius bent.

At the beginning, his son’s wedding called them all back to their island home. 

Crowds of cousins, family, and long-lost friends gathered after so many years gone.

All the old childhood haunts visited and remembered:

The old house.

Over there, the school still stands.

And where they met for baseball.

Not far from where he learned to sail.

On the beach he walked as a kid, the sun and sand still felt the same.

One “last night out with the boys” at a bar – before the glittering wedding and new start.

Dancing. Singing. Laughter until late.

The morning after the ceremony, he was thrilled by an unexpected surprise:

A kayak by the back door.

A small sailboat trailered on the drive.

A note from his best childhood friend saying, “Enjoy them as long as you are here”.

He adored being out on the water. The perfect day hardly seemed long enough. 

Later, enjoying the balcony view with his wife, he happily relayed his day’s adventures as if he was a 5-year-old child returning from the “bestest birthday party ever”.

Island’s sunset. Can’t touch that.©

He paused, waved at the horizon’s stained glass colors, and said, “A glorious sunset almost identical to this morning’s sunrise, yes?”

Smiled at his wife of many years. The children now off on their own.

Took one last drag on his cigarette.

And fell forward onto the ground.

He always loved his island. He always loved the sea.

Under the wide and starry sky
Dig the grave and let me lie:
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.

This be the verse you ‘grave for me;
“Here he lies where he long’d to be,
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.”

(Robert Louis Stevenson)

They say some live their lives backwards.

If so, may it be happily done.

Would you worry if people, places, or situations from earlier years suddenly start spinning in reverse?

Sailing on a Möbius sea

Phil, the Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge

RIP, Arturo. Fine sailor, neighbor, and friend.

 “Just a dream and the wind to carry me. And soon I will be free…” song by Christopher Cross (USPD/commons.wikimedia.org)

 

 

 

 

 

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