Story Jots # 6 – UFOcean

It showed up around seven. On the button because Charlie and I had just left the wharf about to start the last whale tour of the day. We were barely at the edge of the bay where it connects with the rest of the ocean when it first peered through the fog. The fog looked as if it was moving with it. Never once revealing too much of it. At first, we assumed it was some offshore ship coming in for unexpected repairs or supplies. That happens from time to time. You’d be amazed by some of the crazy-looking vessels that drop anchor in this harbour. It’s because of how deep and wide the harbour is, and how world-class our shipyard is known to be.

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Journal Entry # 237 – Marsh Reality

If you don’t stop and look around, how can you say you were actually there? When life taps on your shoulder…say hello. – Ash

Journal Entry # 236 – Cliff Notes

Today, I found myself between a rock and an awesome place. Seek mountains and enjoy the high – Ash

Journal Entry # 235 – Roped Back Into Living

I love experiencing something that I forgot I missed. Like the smell of the ocean, the call of seabirds, and standing in the picking rain while I drift. I call them triggers when they happen. Triggers that I’m not living my life the way I was meant to. Reminders that there are pieces of me that need replenishing. – Ash

By the Trestle Bridge

Actual Trestle Bridge from Google – no copyright infringement intended

no idea where I was going
where my footsteps were taking me
not long off the bus and my bags still hanging off the borrowed bed
I’m running toward something
my faith in a girl next door relationship
built on the stock of only a few summers
we were school break friends and I just had to see this
according to everyone
and everyone was going to be there
that was the promise and with a pinky swear
I was a nervous boy in a foreign land
on loan from thirteen-year-old best buds
speaking only the language of the shy and quiet ones
making what would become a beautiful memory
under the bright big moon
along the sparkle-kissed river
surrounded by the sounds of the teenage
on a warm night in August
by the trestle bridge

Out of Body, Into Life

today, the air was different
I paid attention to the seabirds
watched the tide go all the way out
to my left, a boat hummed away from the harbour
to my right, lost sheep chew green grass into yellow
a car passes by and the people wave
while Jack the black cat sits still on a picket fence
and Patti, the old neighbour strokes the last drop of paint
…against his saltbox home
I am shaken by something I can’t understand
an algorithm of existing in a moment of my life
seeing clear because that life stopped me in my tracks
pushed my breath straight to my lungs
grew my heart for the love of living
filled me with the longing for more
I know now that there is something more to every day
my heart was smothered and my soul blinded
until my spirit had enough and awakened

Journal Entry # 234 – Expiring Quote

We should not worry about how long we will live? But, rather, how do we live? Quantity of life is a one-time blessing. It’s the quality of life that provides forever bliss. – Ash