I Know This Place Like the Back of My Hand

The hilly path from Coast Guard Beach tonight.

A view I've always loved--rolling hills by the sea.

Back at my beloved Cape...not without some guilt about leaving my husband and daughter after just being away for four days with my girlfriends...but Fig was supposed to come and backed out at the 11th hour.....anyway, I will be back home Friday night, and after returning from TX on Monday evening, that night and the next I was shuttling kids home at midnight again....I am a devoted Mom.

Still, I heard once on the old TV show "Sisters" something about how having a child is like watching your heart walk around outside your body. That's how I feel with Figgy. I can't help but worry, over many things--from boyfriend to college debt she will be saddled with. And worry from afar, 300 miles from home, on this 3-day trip to old Cape Cod.

Perhaps some sea air can help keep me grounded and centered.

This place is in my blood, in my heart, in my mind. My parents came on their honeymoon road trip from NYC, and I have been coming since preschool age. I can still remember waking up early in the crib in my parents' bedroom in the cottage we rented, hearing bobwhites call in the morning.

I love it. It nourishes my soul to see it, to drink in the beauty, breathe in the air. To lift the storm window and lower the screen in the bedroom so I can catch a breeze tonight. To see the roads, the fences. To burrow my toes in the sand at Great Pond. To look down at a sweeping view of the sea from points above Nauset Light Beach and Coast Guard Beach. To see the lighthouse....the old white Coast Guard Station with reddish roof...the bike path....the ice cream shop....to look for foxes and coyotes even when they're not out....

See those photos I took, above? That is my Cape, my wild, rugged, simple, beautiful Cape.

I'd like to write longer but I want to wash my face and get into bed and read a mystery!!!!! So I have to drive back home to Wonderstrand Way from this parking lot, where Sug is curled up on the passenger seat and I'm on free Wi-Fi from Dunkin' Donuts. [Thanks, DD.]

Good night to you, from my little pocket of paradise in New England.

TCOY

1. Dialing up Mother Nature at the pond and beaches.
2. Playing in the sand with Nikki.