Signs

I am not a big believer in signs. 

In fact, I am not even a little-bit believer in signs. Now that  you have made me think about it, I am not a believer in  anything really. I do not think less of those who are  believers or those who seek out and see signs, they are  just different than me. I think that sometimes people “see”  signs when they need or want to. I am okay with that, really. Please don’t be offended if you are a signs believing  person, nor judge me for my signage apostasy. 

Now, before I continue with my story, I must give you some  background information else the story won’t make sense.  Hopefully it’s not boring. 

 It has been almost a year since my daughter Katie died.  In this past eleven months I threw myself at my work and  my play (golf mostly). Sadly, neither work nor play  improved markedly for my efforts. Nevertheless that is  what I did.  

At first I was quite afraid that I was not up to returning to  work. To the point that I had work mates watch my work  product, and then tell me if they thought I was not up to  snuff. I am fortunate to have one or two friends who have  or are, going thru some grief, so there is a small but strong occasional contact with similarly disposed people I know.  This has helped.  

My energetic efforts at work and play generated a sense of  swift time passage. So much so, that once again it was  winter and time to schedule some vacation.  

This year I determined to take more time off than I ever  had before. Five, almost six weeks. I am very fortunate to  have a boss who understood, and graciously agreed to let  me go. So, with my plans firmly made, I headed off to the  gulf coast of Florida where I spent three weeks house  sitting for a friend.  

From there I moved a little inland (four miles from the  water) to stay with other friends for a couple days. This week finds me traveling across Florida west to east  headed for the Atlantic side for my last ten days. 

Back to the story: … 

The trip across was amazing. I saw a part of Florida I had  not ever before seen. Miles of orange groves, sod farms,  and grazing cattle.  

As I arrived at the city of Fort Pierce on the Atlantic coast. I  turned left (North) on A1a, the beach road, and that’s  where it happened….

Traveling on the beach road with no destination in mind I  began to occasionally see glimpses of the ocean as I  drove. This made me simultaneously joyous and incredibly  sad. As I drove I tried to get a handle on why exactly I was  feeling so sad.  

Very suddenly and silently, three pelicans flew across my  path. They were just gliding on the breeze, not really  concerned with me or my mental state at all. 

I had to pull over and park for a few minutes because I  could no longer see well enough to drive. Then came the  realization that this was my first Atlantic ocean trip since  the day I released Katie’s ashes into the ocean a few  hundred miles north of here. So after some water, and a  few more minutes watching the ocean and the birds, I  once again had myself under control (mostly).  

Back on the road, with a clearer mind, I remembered that  there is a particular hotel nearby that I have for 20 years been curious about, and that it was not far from where I  was right then.

I pulled into this curious place and decided to inquire  about staying there. I am a weird traveler, (wanderer  really). I do not like schedules, time tables, itineraries, or  plans of any kind. (Katie regularly chided me about this  fact.) I do much better “on the wander”, then I ever have  on a schedule. 

As “the snow-bird season” had already begun, I seriously  doubted I could get a room here, but after 20 years of  curiosity, I decided it was worth a look. 

The place is beautiful. I looked around the lobby, I went to  the patio, just beautiful. After being there a time, a very  nice young lady approached and asked if she could help  me. I explained to her about wandering and not having a  reservation. I told her about how I have been curious  about this place for a long time. I even told her about how,  years ago, it was once painted Florida crazy beach pink.  That made her laugh because some of the older  employees occasionally comment on that crazy color. So, she checked and indeed they had a room and indeed it  was on the fourteenth floor and amazingly they had a  special deal going on and did I want to stay there? 

She did that computer thing, and bingo-bango I have a room on the roof of a hotel I have, for years, been curious  about. 

“Here you go Mr. Choate, and if there is anything else I  can do for you….” 

I looked at her for the first time as she handed me my key card, “…my name is” 

Do you want to guess what her name is? 

Go ahead …. guess….

I am glad there was no one else in the elevator on my way to the roof. 

I might need to re-think this “signs” thing…