August Insights & Gator Eye Lake
Hi All!
It’s mid-August already!
I like long summer days, swimming, wearing less clothing and buying fresh veggies at the farm stand. Honestly, though, heat and humidity? Not my thing. However, despite the double “Hs” there is something enchanting about late summer. Even though the leaves have aged from their more vibrant spring greens, the sun, now lower in the sky, haloes the birches outside my window with gold. Crickets and cicadas bow sultry symphonies in the early evening, and after a storm, the approach of autumn can sometimes be felt in a cool day or two following. In late summer, a feeling of anticipation washes over me, but it’s mingled with longing, the kind of feeling I get when packing up beach towels and sandy flip flops. I’m saying farewell, but I’m ripe with memories.
This is August. An in-between time. Standing on the edge of change.
Change, as much as I hate it sometimes, is always good. Viewed through the proper lens, change is an opportunity for fresh beginnings. These past couple of years have been difficult, to say the least, and it appears there are more challenges ahead. But I intend to make the most of it. I’m always struggling to write better, use time more wisely, lose weight, and sometimes these struggles get the best of me. I end up watching too many reruns of Charmed, pigging out on pasta and letting long periods of time slip by without writing a word. But these days I’m viewing change differently. I’m viewing change through a softer lens, being more gentle with myself. I can’t change the pressures from outside—politics, my job, family stresses, the pandemic, but I can change in small ways that help me feel better about facing each day. I can like myself even when I fail. When I fail to write, for example, I can forgive my humanity, sit down the next day, and feel good about the time I am able to spend perfecting my words. In these crazy times, small steps are more valuable than larger ones. Maybe they always have been. But if it took the pandemic to help me realize this, I say thank you, crazy-making gods! My perspective has changed. And it feels great.
Story Time! Here is an excerpt:
Gator Eye Lake
“Glitter on the dark, sprawling surface of Palm Cove Lake momentarily distracted me from the drifting pieces of a rowboat. Half an oar bobbed near the dock. Some fool ignored the warning signs, ventured out late last night. Probably on a dare. It’s not the first time someone’s gone missing. It’s why the locals don’t use the lake’s proper name, Palm Cove. They call her Gator Eye. Mind you, a gator’s never been found in the depths of these waters, but some say it’s the only way to explain why folks keep disappearing.”
Note: “Gator Eye Lake” is now available on Amazon!
*Thank you for reading! I appreciate it, and I’m grateful you dropped by.
*Copyright 2021 by Jan M. Alexander. * All rights reserved.