altered expectations

i went off on my merry little vacation with high expectations for hot, sunny weather and hours of sunbathing and reading on the beach. i was headed to florida after all. the first day was great and exceeded all my expectations. the second day we woke to 42 degree weather and high winds. i was bummed. i had waited months and months for this get-away. how could it be so cold? and the wind on the beach was wicked. plus, the shells were practically non-existent.

so i let myself wallow in self-pity for a bit and then kicked myself in the patootey with an admonishment to make the best of it. so, we threw on sweat pants and heavy sweatshirts and spent the day on the beach anyway. i decided to practice my photography skills and once i forgot about the wind had a delightful time. and, who says shells have to be perfect and big? i concentrated on the tiny imperfect ones and came home with a treasure trove of nature's beauty.



bill was right there beside me taking some wonderful photos (all the photos featured in this post were taken by my wonderful hubbie) and diving into the surf for shells. brrr!!!

bill was also great about playing along when i wanted to take some artsy shot. once i sat not far from a flock of sea gulls and said ok when i'm ready flap your arms and holler so they fly. what fun it was to shoot, shoot, shoot as they flew away. the photo in my header above is one of the ones i took during this escapade.


of course we enjoyed talking to the few folks walking the beach. one older couple told us about some friends who were about to host their young grandkids at their condo. the grandpa went to wal-mart and bought two large bags of exotic shells. when the kids showed up the grandma would divert their attention while grandpa seeded the beach with all the exotic beauties. i loved this idea and it fueled the fire for my idea to talk about expectations and how we creatively alter them to keep our spirits up.



one thing that surprised me was how the sea gulls would turn and face the setting sun late in the afternoon. standing on one foot, each bird would seem to paying homage to the light and heat. there would at times be up to 40 or 50 birds in the flock and each would be in the same position on one foot.

it made me wonder if we shouldn't all do the same thing each afternoon. big bunches of us standing united, facing west and saying a prayer of thanks for another wonderful day. standing one one foot optional.


although i'm sure my hubbie would not admit it, he had expectations on this vacation of spending time alone with me away from my art room. his expectations were met. no alterations needed. we spent 24/7 together breathing in the sea air, riding our bikes and relaxing together. what he may not know is that i was composing blog posts in my head and envisioning works of beach-inspired art at least part of the time. he had 100% of my company but my mind was still brewing up all those creative thoughts.


so vacation taught me a few lessons about living and creating life rather than expecting life to hand me my expectations on a silver platter. and, it was so much richer for the lesson!!!