Sets In The City

I'll admit it, without hesitation, I am addicted. 

I blame/thank my "coach" for this one-- Timmy created a monster!

Learning to play a sport as an adult isn't easy-

especially with the competitive personality I have.

But Timmy is not only amazing at the sport, but he is a natural coach.

In the  beginning, I made Timmy do "double sessions" with me. Early in the morning before work, we hit the court, and then immediately after work, also. 

It is my favorite part of my day, especially when I beat Timmy 3-1 regularly! 

"I think one of the greatest joys I have now in my career and in my profession is to be playing at an age where I can appreciate it more than I used to... It's a whole different lens you look through the older you get. "

Andre Agassi

It's surprising to me how easily I picked it up.

Maybe it's my obsession with the sport, or perhaps, as adults, we learn better/differently

Or maybe it's the coach.

My serve still leaves much to be desired, but we're getting there! 

I should have known I'd love tennis-

a sport where you HAVE to wear a skirt--

perfect!

Court couture from fashion houses across the ages has lent the sport an air of debonair sophistication. 

And to me, that is a perfect set!

Things I LOVE:

Donnay Formula 100

pink "survival" balls (that's my name for them.. )

Puma Tennis dresses 

 I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. 

I've lost almost 300 games. 

26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed.

 I've failed over and over and over again in my life.

 And that is why I succeed.

Michael Jordan

Safe Harbor | An Ode to 18 1/2

"But there you had one more small but significant

 enigma of Sullivans Island, a land washed in

 mystery and populated with the kind of characters

Tennessee Williams would have loved to have known."

 -  Dorthea Bennton Frank

Everyone has a holy place, a refuge... A place

where their heart is instantly lighter

their mind clearer, 

Where they feel closer to God

 or love or truth or whatever it is they happen to believe in.

 Mine was discovered here in Charleston,

  through my sister gypsy soul, Stephanie Patton-- 

we'll say it's a little something borrowed. 

I have come to realize in my twenties that we exalt what is at hand...

For instance, as a child, my holy place was Massena, New York's Eisenhower Locks. 

It was special to me.. 

In my "nautical expertise", and if childhood memory serves me correctly, 

when a ship enters a lock, water is either fed in or drained out depending on whether

 the ship is bound up river or down. 

Once the amount of water is leveled, the ship may exit and sail on. 

Eisenhower Locks, Massena NY

 Had I grown up beside the ocean, not a river,  I might  not have mythologized it -- and chosen something  more brilliant. 

But I had to discover my holy place upon moving here, as Charleston is the "Holy City"-- and oddly enough, my new safe harbor remains 

somewhat the same... it still sustains seaside.

 No matter what way you look at it, my True North points to

 station 18 1/2 on Sullivans Island.  

You cannot help but have a spiritual awakening, a peaceful calming or just catch your breath when you see a sunrise like this-- 

Morning sunrise- Sullivan's Island

Built in 1962, this automated lighthouse is adjacent to

 Fort Moultrie and steers mariners, whilst in dense fog

 or dark nights, away from cliffs, land and shorelines, 

coral reefs and other potentially hazardous areas. 

It also steers us wondering souls to it's side for

 solace and comfort. 

The Boys love going to 18 1/2 with mama. It's our bonding time... 

and the first place I ever was able to get Willy in the water (yes, I have the one Newfie that loathes the water!) 

They both just smile when we're there... it's our special place together.

Willy Wanka is all smiles!

Mama and Willy

That's how I know that this lighthouse is special.

 It was one of  my unexplained gravitational pulls to Charleston.

Little baby 210 pound Chaucer

Willy (left) and Chaucer (Right)

Writers love to illustrate with words the beauty of Charleston.

 Sullivan's Island was the home of Edgar Allen Poe for a wee bit.

He wrote "Goldbug Island" about SI and they pay tribute to him 

with a perfectly situated beachside bar, Poe's Tavern

Other writers, like Dorthea Benton Frank, Sullivan's Island native, 

have written a plethora of novels (New York Times Bestsellers) 

about Sullivans, Charleston and the Low-Country. 

 "She took a deep breath and  she could still smell

 plough mud, which was an acquired taste

 and dangerously addictive. In her dreams she actually

 smelled plough mud. It's what the Low-country  is made of."

My first Plough mud experience

Sipping on Champagne under the star blanketed sky,

 the lighthouse's unique flashing

 characteristic

 (0.2 second flash, a 4.8 flash, a 4.8 second eclipe,

 another 0.2 second flash and a 24.8 second eclipse) 

soothes and excited me.

 It is here that I can clearly see the North Star... 

Apparently
 it is an inherent flaw of us mortals
 to be drawn to what abandons us,

 and to what seems most likely to abandon is. 

I challenge that..

18 1/2 can be seen for 26 miles.

It can withstand the strongest of winds, time and storm.

I say we're defined by what embraces us... 

what guides us home, whatever that may be.

Whether it lifts us safely into new, unchartered waters like the locks,
 or it's

our candle on the water (childhood reference to Pete's Dragon - mom).. 

hard working, diligent, unwavering... constant.

Sailors have often referred to lighthouses

 as their seaside stars, especially from those that shifted

 from celestial to terrestrial navigation.  

I learned this from a "local" at the fish market I buy the pups' food from.

He loves giving my "Yankee butt" some "Old Salt" knowledge.

He's rather funny, too,  and somewhat like a fortune cookie -- 

but in a stinky fish mart on Shem Creek.

The other day I walked in and he said

- "It is the calm and silent water that drowns a man..."

"Well, he shoulda worn a life-vest, then.."

 I joked back.

He shook his head and mumbled under his breath, 

"No matter how treacherous the sea may be,

 a woman will always be more so,"

and  then gave me an old-man sailor's wink.

That same fortune-cookie Captain comes to mind sometimes
 when I am at the beach alone and staring up at the palmetto crescent moon. 

 As the sweet champagne hits my lips,

 the tide reaches my toes, 

and the lighthouse makes it's way back around,
I feel a calming in my soul.

I know, at that moment
 what Dom Pierre Perignon, the Benedictine Monk 
who invented champagne (Cheers to you, Brother Bubbly) meant when he said---

"I am tasting the stars"

"So we beat on,

 boats against the current,

 borne back ceaselessly into the past."

The Great Gatsby | F. Scott Fitzgerald

Credit Roll

"Sittin' on a bench at West Town Mall

He sat down in his overalls and asked me

You waitin' on a woman

I nodded yeah and said how 'bout you

He said son since nineteen fifty-two I've been

Waitin' on a woman" - Brad Paisley, Waitin' on a Woman

Behind every great woman, is a man standing off to the side, holding her purse. They may hate it, and he undoubtedly will be flexing while doing so to look more manly, but he does it without hesitation.

As cliche as it is to use the movie The Notebook, I must do so. You know the part (every girl does) where Noah describes their relationship? Yup, that's us: 

"Thats is what we do...We fight. You tell me when I am being an arrogant son of the bitch and i tell you when you are a pain in that ass. 

Which you are, 99% of the time. I am not afriad to hurt your feelings.

 You have like a 2 second rebound. And you go back doing the next another pain in the ass thing. "

When I have phenomenal pictures of me and the dogs, or me and my girlfriends, Timmy's the one behind the scenes, piled in purses, juggling cameras. 

He makes me laugh. Either at him, or with him.

He holds my shoes while I dance. He's getting used to this free spirit... it's a struggle, but we're getting there.

He's the worst to shop with-- because he takes FOREVER. 

He's an excellent brother, uncle, godfather and son. Timmy is the most loyal, giving person you will EVER meet.

He's super strong... look at those big muscles. 

He twirls me. Awkwardly, but still, he does it. 

He pretty much will do anything for me. He uses terms like "Shabby Chic" and "distressed" and is working on furniture sometimes long after I've said "I'm over it". 

The most patient tennis coach to a very impatient student, he taught me to both love and play. As my mother always says about Timmy: Isn't it wonderful to have someone who believes in you as much as he does? Who is so proud of you?

I love you Timmy. Even though I don't give you enough credit for all you do, it doesn't mean I don't see it. Thank you for being my best friend, coach, purse holder, dog groomer, photographer, carpenter, and F.O.E ...

The End.

(In Order of Appearance)

The Greatest Man

Played by

Timmy K. Cummings