Bucket List checked.

I got my horse ride on the beach. Trigger was a fifteen year old quarter horse who has been a trail rider on the beach for a year. He came from somewhere else where he also rode trails. He was impatient to start the ride and when we got on the sand he wanted to jog. I wanted to run. We both had to settle for a quick walking pace. I couldn’t stop staring at the horizon line, taking in all that sky, sand, and water. Add that to the power of the animal underneath me, and the realization that I was doing something I have always wanted to do gave me an extreme boost of happiness.

After the ride I treated myself to a pre-birthday lunch and bought a piece of jewelry in the market. The market is cool. It’s old, built back when outdoor markets were the Walmart, but it still functions kind of the same. Instead of fresh chickens and vegetables though, the booths are full of art and t-shirts and soaps and candles. I stopped at a glass artist’s booth. He uses a torch to make octopus pendants and other jewelry. I recognized the form and struck up a conversation with him. He told me that when marijuana was legalized in Colorado, he almost moved there, because making glass pipes was something he knew how to do. He told me that he decided to stay in South Carolina because he could make a living on selling jewelry and eventually the legalization would probably spread and people would return home and need to buy pipes again. We both chuckled over the truth of that.

I also went to the Old Slave Museum. Two hundred years ago the building was used as a display room for selling people. I kept thinking of a car show room, and sleazy salesmen, and gleaming merchandise. Sometimes having a good imagination is over- rated.

I went to the beach afterward and just walked on the sand trying not to think about anything of consequence. The beauty of the place is undeniable, but so is the ugliness. The truly remarkable fact is that the place seems to have accepted both and is striving for a goal of balance. It was a good lesson for me.

It’s my birthday today. I’d hoped to get to all of the states by now, but I haven’t quite made it. But it’s okay, I have time because, after all, discovery is a journey, not a race.