Daytona Beach, FL

I tied up some loose ends bill wise today in Orlando and didn’t leave for Daytona until 2:00. I guess no matter how free you think you are, the end of the month comes and student loans, cell phone bills, car payments, and car insurance and everything else hits. You can’t go back to being 17 with nothing but the hassle of waking up early for school.

I made it to Daytona, in this case, Port Orange, which is just outside of Daytona at about 3:30. I was going to visit/re-meet my Aunt Diane’s sister Marilyn and her husband Bob. Marilyn had given me directions and she said they were close to the river. I was on the phone with my friend in For Lauderdale when I was approaching the intersection of their street. “Dude, hold on, I’ve got to get a shot of this.” In front of me was the river, which actually is the Intercostal Waterway, and beyond that was the skyline of Daytona.

I paused, smiled, and made the turn. Their house was the next one and faced the water. Sweet. I got out and rang the bell. Bob greeted me and showed me around the house. They had just built an addition and we toured the high ceilings and big patio with a great view of the water. Even better was the walk across the street to the dock they had. We walked out and you could see forever. A lighthouse shown in the distance to my right and to the left was the skyline and some of the high rise condos Florida is famous for.

Bob and I spoke and I got my stuff and then we settled down in the living room for an interview. Man, he offered a great perspective on things. He is a retired police chief and current university professor. He had some great advice for me and for people searching. He really broke it down and made it not as complicated as I make it out to be.

This was one of the few interviews where it did it no end once I hit stop on the tape recorder. I was spending the night, so we carried on. I asked, listened, and offered my pennies. Marilyn got home from work as we finished so it was on to some snacks and a beer. We caught up about the family. I walked out on the dock with Bob to get some video and some pictures. Man, I love the water. As we stood and talked some more, not just small talk, but deep stuff that you can’t do all the time, fish were jumping all over the place. He told me the names, but I can’t remember it right now. He told me about these fish and how they were the bottom of the food chain and how they fed on plant life and then other fish fed on them and so on. They kept jumping. The sound they made hitting the water brought a smile to my insides. I had pictured the fish food chain and felt my part in it, even though I was just standing there.

Well, it was on to take part in that food chain. And as I type my journal entries, I learn more and more that I like to eat. We ate some great salmon that Bob cooked on the new grill that Marilyn got for her birthday. I felt privileged to take part in the first meal on the new grill. Marilyn had peppered the salmon and we also had a green salad with an oriental dressing, a shoepeng corn jalapeño salad, biscuits, and a glass of wine. For desert it was bananas foster. Life was good. And, I must graciously thank my hosts.

It was a shame, but we had to go sit on the porch after dinner and look at the water and talk. It is surreal for me sometimes doing this. Here I am sitting on the porch of people who I met when I was kid, drinking a glass of wine and talking about the world, youth, politics, their trip to Russia, and many other things. This is why I did this. There is no way I would have met them like this doing what I was doing a month and a half ago. Me and two Ph.D.’s kicking it on a Monday night.

We talked and it got late, probably later than normal. I met some more extended family today, even though were not actually related, and made new friends. I really enjoy talking to people about things that are hard to figure out. There may not be a true answer, but we can at least try to figure why things happen as they do. Existential Andrew is going to bed.