Love IS All Around Me

There is nothing in this world I love more than my family. I'll tell you what though, the beach and a women's writing retreat... lot's of lovin' going on here. The energy is high, the camaraderie is unmatched, and the writing so far has gone from tearjerking to pee-in-your-pants hilarious! And we're just one meal and two writing exercises in. The 2nd Annual Women's Writing Retreat is a celebration of a love of and for writing.  Don't be 'a writer.' Be writing. -William Faulkner

Gulf breezes and cocktails while dining seaside.
Introducing and reacquainting, laughing and storytelling,
we are starting the narrative of a writing weekend.
The perfect locale, a small resort, a quiet beach.
Women gather for communal writing,
for friendship and sisterhood, for sharing and trust,
for crying and for laughing.
The words will drip onto the pages
and the table and the floor.
And we will sit in them and roll in them
and toss them up in delight like autumn leaves.
We will scrub ourselves with them,
shampoo them through our hair and into our scalps.
Rub them into our skin and replenish our bodies and souls.
And we will play with them and nurture them
cradle them and protect them.
Words are sacred and writing is prayer.

Looking to Lovers Key

Our 2nd Annual Women's Writing retreat is less than three months away, and I am starting to get excited. I've been gathering ideas, scheduled a planning day with a colleague, and I've been looking back through my journal and photos from last year. I bought a new journal to take with me that weekend, and on the first page is where I set my intention for the two days of writing. On the following pages, I wrote thoughts and pieces of writing throughout the weekend. The entire experience was a catalyst for my writing during the summer and early fall.  Tonight I flipped through the pages, and about a third of the way through, there were two pages dated September 13th. In between was an undated page which was likely written that same day. I believe it was in response to a field trip I took with my college students down to Lovers Key Beach. I wrote down some words and phrases used by the student naturalist as we walked the beach. It appears I started to write a poem, so tonight in anticipation of the retreat down on Lovers Key, I decided to finish it.

Lovers Key

Not just for lovers of one another

a secluded piece of beautiful Southwest Florida

nestled estuaries, nurseries for sea creatures

safe haven for birds and beachgoers

Kayak through the mangroves

lick brackish splashes from your upper lip

Lovers of nature come here for respite

to relax, rejuvenate

rejoice in the wildlife and vegetation

Enjoy gulf breezes and blue skies

see an anhinga dive down in pursuit of lunch

the great blue heron soar above 

snowy white egrets tiptoe along the shore

and tiny boats sail out in the distance

Sit by the water's edge and sip on a cocktail

close your eyes and tilt your face up 

in praise of the sun's warmth and light

let the energy move you to create

sacred souls in writing communion

Photo from loverskeyadventures.com