What If It All Matters?

Greetings from Noosa 🇦🇺, where I'm reminded there is no *real life* and *un-real life*, aka “dreamy vacation”, because it’s all LIFE.

It’s morning in Noosa. Erica and I answering the call of the Pacific.

G’day Beautiful Friends,

First, it’s true, Australians do say “G’day” as a greeting. And they eat Vegemite, which I knew because my mom is Australian but also because my grandkids make Vegie sandwiches for lunch every day. And yes, Noosa is one of the most dreamy beautiful heavenly places on earth and as much as I love all my friends and family, if a thunderous voice boomed from the sky and proclaimed: “Everybody freeze, stay where you are,” I could live with that.

Question: What is a favorite beautiful dreamy place and how do you bring it into daily life? Please drop your ideas in comments as I’m wondering how to keep some tropical beach vibe going in Seattle winters.

Erica and me fresh from our morning dip. Next up: coffee!

Secondly, the sun has been up for a while by 6:30 am, as have the grandkids who are these self-sufficient capable little humans who make their own breakfasts and pack lunches, get ready for school, and take the dog out for a walk every week. Dyllan, 13 is up and out at 7; Ellie, almost 11 and Benji, 8, leave at 8, so we three amigos have little morning adventures, usually taking Francois out for a walk, kicking the soccer ball around. The last two mornings we’ve written a collaborative story about a green bear who chases the narrator around on cruise ships in the South Pacific.

Kids are some of my favorite playmates. They free me from all that self-referencing (“How am I doing? What should I do? Why am I like this?”). Who or what frees you from the prison of the personal pronoun?

Me mates!

Thirdly, by noon I have already walked to coffee, body surfed exactly one wave in the Pacific on a nearly deserted beach; Steve and I rode the e-bikes five minutes to a “Squad” workout (“Masters”) at the local aquatic center, in the most beautiful 50-meter pool. Our coach was a Swiss guy named Andy who sounded like Arnold Schwarzenegger and whistled at me from the side of the pool, correcting how I was attempting a strange freestyle drill. He also gave Steve (aka “Beautiful Swimmer”) a few tips on his form which delighted me to no end, and forbade him from using his pull buoy.

I could write about my swimming experience here for days, like the beauty of the bottom of the pool—light blue tile, with accents in white and coral, a joy to observe while kicking out those laps; or how cool and perfect the water temp is; also how the coaches are real pros, that coaching the adult groups is a fair dinkum career—they wear name tags!—and there is a lot of attention paid to technique for the purposes of saving our shoulders so we can swim into our watery graves.

Q: What do you love to do so much, and what does it tell you about how to live?

Fourthly, and lastly, there is no *real life* and *un-real life*, aka “dreamy vacation”, it’s all LIFE. I’ve been contemplating this because I had these strange disconnected (and guilty) feelings about my creative/ work projects that I thought I’d stay up with while here 😂😂😂😂😂🏖️

What if we let all moments matter equally?

Reading in bed, writing a proposal, shopping for a cake, cleaning the toilet, riding a wave, an hour of work, staring out the window, comforting a loved one, getting a promotion, watching a cloud pass by the open window as you cry for the world.

What if this is the most beautiful gift we could give ourselves?

Here—my gift to you. Let it all matter. 🎁