This is the evening report from Mayberry by the sea...........I sat and watched the last light drain from the sky through the barren branches of the trees in the yard.........there is a trick to painting bare limbs I have found.....it takes a good balance between painting tight and loose...............tonight I am filled with promise of a good year ahead.......I feel it in my gut and I am starting the year off busy with work.......................the last light sank into the horizon and the afterglow released the stars..............I found myself being pulled out of the funk and the pall that has fallen on this island......we have lost three kids in the last two weeks......they say it takes a village to raise a child and I believe it......every kid on this this island is like our own here.......I love when my young friends have their babies and I love to remind them that Uncle Mickey is here to help.......I wrote a post about it and said that I didnt know these kids but felt like I did maybe.......and it turns out I did know one of them.......I used to write about a mysterious man clad in black leather and a helmet who used to ride by my studio almost every night a midnight......I called him the night rider.....and some people questioned as to weather he was for real or a figment of my imagination...until they eventually saw him over the year he rode by.........I could hear him from a mile away driving onto the island and I would put my brushes down and walk out to the street and try to read the writing on the back of his jacket.....I waved to him and he never returned a wave and I never could read what was on the back.....he would ride by and turn the corner and the sound would just fade out.........he has been gone for about a year but a new night rider caught my attention.....a white corvette with a great sounding engine......I would hear him ride by and see him.......and just less than a week ago I come to the red light and see the corvette and pull up alongside and roll my window down.....and say....Man I LOVE your car...inside was a teenage kid with pilot shades and cap......I could tell he loved that car and appreciated my compliment......he told me it was an 81 and it hauls ass........I said I would have loved to have a boss ride like that when I was his age.....we talked until the light turned green and I said...show me what that car can do......he revved the engine up and peeled out and it made me smile...I said to myself....what a cool kid..........hes got it going on......I looked up the obituary to see if I could recognize the kid who died this weekend.........I read he drove a 1981 corvette and when I saw his picture it hit me....it was the kid at the stoplight.....today I saw through the barren limbs in the draining light of the day the people coming and going from the home four doors down in the officers quarters house........paying their respects to the mother of that same kid.....and he joins many who I grew up with and lost along the way....Vance....Karen......Mickey B...........Ray.......Gene........Robby.............we all know where the destination is and its all about how you get there......living the life we have and appreciating the people around us......its not enough to just be grateful....you have to take one step further and show your gratitude...whenever you can.......and as often........I am grateful I met this kid and although I only knew him for 5 minutes....he was like me.....like you........like every kid.......growing up in a world living life...enjoying his youth......being cool......a fast car ..........I wondered why I had not heard him the last few nights..........I drove by and saw the car parked under the house......and it had flowers on the hood....the utter stillness of the moment ...punctuated only by the sound of waves breaking on the sandbars......the sundown was like a poem and the mockingbird sang.... the last song.......Mayberry by the sea.......not just a zip code along the broken coast.............. but a state of mind as well.....
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 01:36:49 +0000
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