I’m sitting in the last bit of sunlight on the last day of my assignment here, and the last day of the year, savoring this campsite where I can look over the ocean and over the back of my home with just a slight turn of the head. This chapter of my life that began three months ago, ….well it really began in April, …actually it began long before that but the catalyst was in April. April Fool’s Day at that and Easter too. It was this combination that inspired me to make a phone call. Even though I had already called, a few times, to see if there were any cancelations that would make it possible for V to have his birthday in the Keys. State parks start to book up eleven months ahead and, you see, I just don’t ever have that kind of lead ti

me. So I depend on things like miracles, and I remember thinking, as I first opened my eyes that morning, that if there was ever a day that was ripe with miracles, well, it would be Easter, and if ever there was a day that those said miracles would fall in my favor; that would be Easter on April Fool’s Day. Experince showed me that my windfalls and wonderous moments often came with a sense of humor.

So I whispered a little prayer and dialed. After some checking and tap tap tapping through the line, there was indeed a cancelation. Three days. Right over his birthday. If I had known then where it would all lead and that I would be sitting here now, I think my heart would have exploded.

I’m looking back over it all and wondering how often I really was able to enjoy it. Maybe I was here with the wrong guy. But maybe I wasn’t. It certainly made it better and worse in equal measure. Actually, not in equal measure; it leaned more to the worse. Maybe it was stuff I needed to learn; I have also grown so much through it. I can see that I’ve simply outgrown the relationship. I guess that’s good. I’m leveling up