Living on Water

One of the best parts of retirement or working independently is that you get to pick where you live. All too often we move where the money is or where the loved ones are, or where we are the most needed. But if you get to pick you get to pick you find the reasons become clear. For me, it's water. Both the Divine and I are drawn and nourished by water. Strangely enough it doesn't have to be a beach fronting an ocean. We love that, but we are more drawn to other locations. We live in Tampa next to Port Tampa Bay. But more about that next month. Water is movement and change. Those are two of the most important motivators in the Arnett household. So it is the rise and fall of the tide, the current, the flow that captures my imagination and brings me the most peace. One of the things that I love about my adopted city is that the powers that be have decided to give as much access as possible to the water.

Being close to such a dynamic entity as Tampa Bay and the Hillsborough River helps to define who I am as a person. I can tell that it's nearby. I can sense the shifts in temperature, sea life, and the people life that happens in, on, and around the water. I have favorites. Give me a salt marsh with the abundance of transition life and I am a happy person. It has helped develop my southern mentality over the years. Give me a mountain river with its tributaries of streams and creeks and the bug life that supports my favorite fish, trout, and it completes the picture of who I am.

I live in two environments, deep in the woods, and high in the central city. They both have abundant water all around them. It works for me.

Take a moment and examine those elements of where you live that give you pleasure and purpose in your life.