Just a thought… The last of the human freedoms: to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. [Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning]

How is it that I forgot the key message I gave in speeches: the quote above from Dr. Viktor Frankl? How could I have let myself be mired in the grief of not having our grandkids around anymore and the uncertainty of our house and so on, sinking into an abyss of despair?

Those are the questions that came to me as I sat in the little top-down MINI, enjoying a gentle summer’s day ride back to Rob, Dottie and Livi. I guess the answer is easy: I’m human.

Here’s my ferry pulling in to the harbour to take me back to Vancouver Island. Quite a sight….

Last week I did a whole lot of nothing much. I wrote two Drift sleep stories and started the laborious project I’ve taken on of putting some favourites to video for YouTube. (They’re not up yet: I want to upload a whole bunch at once.)

I got our Gracefully and Frankly Episode 82 prepared to go up to the internet despite sometimes facing WiFi challenges. I walked the beach, listened to Lauren singing on my phone, met a river otter (hope you saw my video story!) and just slept in, ate in, and watched an entire series on Prime: Daisy Jones and the Six – the story of a 70s band loosely based on the drugging and slugging drama behind Fleetwood Mac.

Oh, and for those between times? There were always ancient episodes of Forensic Files. (Sidebar: Hey! Have you heard of this new stuff called DNA? This could change everything! LOL)

I kept up on news while simultaneously avoiding most of it, remembered Bob Newhart by watching some of his best internet clips, and started reading a book set on Mayne Island, my home for four nights.

Mostly, though, I enjoyed the silence. The solitude. The gratitude that I was able – and allowing myself (with Rob’s blessing, not permission) – to be alone and shake off the overall malaise I’ve been curled into for the past several months.

It wasn’t a quick fix; it took a long while to get into the funk and it’ll take a long while to get out. Distractions are my friend I’ll be getting both of those things when pod-partner and pal Lisa Brandt arrives here in just over a week!

Then what? Aw, who knows….

Life is short, summer is shorter and damn it, July is shortest of all. So here are a few of the pictures I took on my one short excursion from the cabin to the beach. I hope you enjoy them.