Because we can

Carpe diem! Seize the day! How many times have we said it, read it, applauded it? How many times do we DO it??

Believe it or not, it's been hot in the city for several days. We were parched at the Festa Colioniale Italiana and the Polk Street Blues Festival on Saturday. Took it easy yesterday to recuperate. Today, I woke up and saw a crystal clear sky without a shred of fog, and the weatherman said it was going to be the warmest day all week, even at the coast. So I pushed aside all the research I was going to do on target companies, and said Let's go to the Beach!

We went to Point Reyes National Seashore once, years ago, with our dear friends Rhonda & David. We never got all the way to the lighthouse, because it took so long to get up there and around, and we just ran out of daylight. Today we made it. We did a great hike down the Laguna Creek trail, walked the beach along to Limantour, and hiked back up the Coast trail. The trails were HOT, but we had them to ourselves (passed 1 guy with his 2 kids). The beach was amazing. Endless stretches of sand, a seal bobbing in the waves, warm balmy breeze. I could have laid in the sand and read a book for hours. Except I was already getting sunburned, and we still wanted to make it to the lighthouse. We drove back out to Olemma, took a short break for ice cream, then drove on up to the lighthouse. We actually had to put our jackets on up there, it must have been 20 degrees colder! It wasn't a front that moved in, when we got back to Point Reyes Station it was back to almost 80. We had a lovely dinner (best oyster stew I never dreamed of!) and headed home. Perfect day.

How many people just stick their nose in their computer every day, beating out meaningless words and numbers, while a beautiful day like this passes them by? I realize it's a luxury that I am able to seize a day like this and savor the best it

can be. It makes me think about other days when I truly could have and didn't. I know this much for sure. When I'm breathing my last breath, I will be much more thankful for days like today than for all the days at work.

It's days like this that give me the fortitude to buckle down and work on finding the next great adventure.