This is such a great photo, and no, it is not of me.
The photo is one taken from the Boardwalk at Playland, in Rye Beach, New York. If one place defined summer and carefree childhood, I believe Playland would be the one.
I don't always understand why one small segment of our past life captures our heart and mind, there doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason why is should...but there it is.
Playland meant to me a sense of freedom, of pure and simple joy. Maybe it has to do with the water. Being near the water has always been like a tonic for me. It is a place where I feel most like me, most like who I like to be.
In the novel "Back When We Were Grownups" by Anne Tyler....
...the opening line describes, at select times, how I feel about the "me" of today. And it goes as such:
"Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person."
It is one of the most stunning, stark, honest, engrossing first lines I have ever read. When I first read it, I thought.."how did she know??" I have long said that I am in the midst of something as yet unidentified, something about change. I don't know what that something is yet. It's terrifying and unbearably exciting all at the same time. I can only wonder what is next for me.
And yes, all of this musing came about from seeing that peaceful photograph of the beach at Playland. Life is so very, very interesting.