Tranquility and Friendship

I’m here at Sunset Beach, North Carolina for four days. We left town yesterday around 11 o’clock – and arrived here just before 4 pm. We stopped at the most fabulous Pig Wig (Piggly Wiggly – grocery store) to stock up – and then on to the house for cocktail hour.

To reach Sunset Beach you traverse the only remaining pontoon bridge in North Carolina. Every hour on the hour between 7 am and 7 pm it’s opened to let Inter-Coastal traffic through. When we arrived in the afternoon, it was low tide – and the bridge was flat. Late last night when we came home the ocean was at high tide. The bridge had a “hump” in it – and the water was lapping at the sides. After crossing the bridge we drove the narrow strip of causeway with ocean on either side. You could see the moonlight reflecting off the water. There was mere inches between us and the water. Beautiful, powerful, intimidating.

This morning we woke up to pristine silence. Quietly padding from my room to the kitchen I was struck with how tranquil the house is with the early morning sun’s halo around the window blinds. I turned on the coffee pot and had a few minutes for some quite reflection before Meg came downstairs. We are determined to enjoy these few hours of peace and quite before everyone starts showing up today.

I am writing, she is preparing the shrimp soup for tonight. This, this peace and quite – is the essence of friendship. Plenty of time to talk – but also plenty of time to sit with a cup of coffee and do nothing. I wish I could distill the essence of these moments. Perhaps that’s what writing is all about. Capturing the feeling – to bring out over the years and luxuriate in my mind.