maida

me an' maida: last yearwe went downtown flagler on monday night & played locals. which in this scenario means that we got some fish tacos & ate them outside on sticky salty wooden benches decorated with cholula sauce bottles. & then went across the street to the new ice-cream shoppe in towne that i heard about from my yoga class & zane ordered a mango italian ice & i got a ($0.35!) homemade cupcake. & we took them down to the beach to devour. & then i waded knee-deep in the water which was shockingly warm- as the color of the ocean has been that dark blue that makes it look cold & uninviting ever since we got back. & then we lollygagged around downtown & ran into... maida. which was such a coincidence. i had just seen "the Bill's" (father/son who have a sunday ritual of coming into the restaurant & eating brunch)the day before & since i never work sundays anymore they asked if i had seen maida lately, which i hadn't seen her since last november at our class up at the community college. anyway she was riding her bike across the street & i said... "maida? is that you?" & she braked hard. & we hugged really tightly. & it felt so good. we chatted for a few minutes cathing up on the past year & all our life changes, etc. she has this inner fire that makes her just glow & she lifts everyone around her up a few notches & i just adore her.
i hadn't realized i had been sub-consciously looking for that "aha" moment where i finally feel settled & content to be back in florida. or at least where my longings to be in washington still surrounded by "our people" don't overshadow the good feelings of being where we belong right now. but this night, that was actually just supposed to be the remedy i needed after being cooped up in the apartment alone all day cleaning, actually made me realize that i was indeed looking for that defining moment. & this made it feel like we were getting a lot closer to finding it. so i'm thankful.