Nothing

Thursday night's event ended. The Cloister's Oglethorpe Room was splendid, as is every room in the hotel, and all in all, everything was good. Later, I found myself at home outside letting my two of three energetic pooches romp around in the back yard, realizing I had nothing pressing to take care of ahead of me. I thought, as this was a rare occurance, "Okay, Beth, who do you need to call? Who should you catch up with that you haven't spoken to in a while? What should you do to make the most of this time?" I decided to put my blackberry back down on the bench and do nothing. My mind wasn't racing, my agenda wasn't full... for this moment. I just stood there. I could have found something to do that needed to be done, sure, but I felt appreciative of the wonderfully delicious piece of quiet that was in my mind. It wasn't completely quiet because I was thinking all of these words I am now typing, but compared to normal this was baby pool waves. No crashing, surging waters were beating against my cranium. I was still.

When my thoughts rested, my senses woke up. The nearby Tramici Restaurant's outdoor music became louder. I heard laughter from early bird Georgia fans celebrating next door, enjoying the entertainment. What I assume was crickets were chirping madly and my dog was snorting around in the dirt. I felt my own heart beat and the same breeze in my hair that was making the tree limbs rustle. I looked around me, nobody was there to distract me, so I looked up to find a clear black sky with stars that shined so brightly as they had no competition from street lights. This area is the dark part of the eastern coastline shown on Google Earth's "The Earth at Night" satellite photograph. If the Earth is a jack-o-lantern, Saint Simons Island is the part not carved. No lights peaking through here.

So, I have nothing more to say. Like I said, this was all I took in and I ignored my pattern of over thinking and analyzing life's most basic moments until they are complex, symbolic meanings for more. Moments of nothingness reveal everything life is all about. The real stuff, like heart beats and breath and night skies are enough when they are pure and simple. My new something in my calendar will now be to take time for nothing.