My tax pro friends are planning their winter getaway before the busy season. I remember my days as a ‘jet setter’ when I thought that ten days in warm weather in the bleak days of February was the minimum requirement for northeast survival. Humacao, out on the island, was part of my psyche in those days. Later, private resorts on the Gulf of Mexico seemed like a second home. I wonder when and why I lost my desire to travel.
It bothered me enough that I thought about it first thing this morning while I prepped organic veggies from our community supported agriculture program. I was still thinking about it when the dogs and I walked through the empty woods along the banks of our state’s largest lake. Late in the afternoon, it was still on my mind during a sundown beach walk while the migrating otters played along the surf. Why am I willing to stay here?
I thought about how the otters travel every winter, followed soon by the sea lions, and then tens of thousands of white snow geese in February. As regular as clockwork. Without the winter travelers, our thousands of acres of bayshore meadow, beach and oyster cove would be empty now in winter.
That thought about staying home was still on my mind as I counted shooting stars in the hot tub, sipping a glass of a new cab before bed. The temperature shock while I toweled off in the dark pushed it out of my thoughts. But then once inside, curled up on the sofa next to the fireplace with the four dogs, I realized that I already had my answer.
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