The rear view mirror

It’s been a number of days since you have seen a post. I have not been standing still during that time period, just the opposite actually. On Wednesday I had my relationship end. I prefer to not go into detail about it other than my overarching goal is to ultimately be happy and feel at peace. I have sadness but also move forward knowing I did everything I possibly could.

I took Thursday off to get some loose ends connected to ending things taken care of. I played some pickleball at lunch and then AGAIN after work. Playing twice in one day is a rarity in my world but it was fun. During the evening session I played doubles with my buddy Rich. We played some higher skilled teams and did surprisingly well holding our own. On the way home from there I grabbed some dinner at the bar of Brunina’s.

My Friday was pretty unstructured. I went for a ride, got some chores done that I normally would do on Saturday and then went to dinner later with my buddy Don. I had told Don about my new reality and as is normally the case he primarily listened without being overly opinionated. Don has basically cut women out of his life for over a decade.

On Saturday I met up with Jason to get another ride in, this time at the Naples Greenway which he had never been to before. He didn’t even bring his wheel as he much prefers riding my suspension wheels. He loved the location with all of the diverse terrain and scenery. He did his first ever ride down a set of stairs which was a big deal. It’s been different and enjoyable having a riding buddy.

Yesterday I did something that I have not done in forever, went out on a personal boat. One of the guys that I play pickleball with owns a nice 26 footer. He had a free day and asked who wanted to come out of our group, I was the only person that said yes.

We spent the entire afternoon hanging out. We went out to a nice beach on the edge of the Everglades where it touches the ocean. We sat there and just chilled as we ate some sandwiches and drank A LOT. It was great.

When it was time to head out he did a quick spin into the ocean but suddenly the motor shut off. When he popped the hatch he got a salt water shower as water was flowing out of a hose, the clamp securing it had broken. Of course, I was concerned.

Luckily he carries a full set of tools as well as potential needed parts, like hose clamps. In less than 10 minutes he was able to secure the hose and we were good to go. During the ride back in he let me take the wheel for probably 15-20 minutes. It was my first time behind the wheel of a vessel, it was cool. I also got some familiarity with the ins and outs when we returned to dock and did the post ride clean up/securing that is required with boats. It was a great time and I hope to be able to repeat the experience more often in the future.

Two other things came to be over these 4 days. I booked two trips. I am going to fly to my sisters for Thanksgiving, something I last did two years ago. I also booked a trip to LA to hang with my EUC gang out there around my birthday.

Last night when I got home I was sandy, tired and a little sun burned but feeling my life now moves forward without a rear view mirror.