This morning is quite windy and cold, and wildly unseasonable. Strong wind gusts are coming in off the Gulf, and it’s barely forty bone-chilling degrees, Arctic weather, by native Floridian standards. Kaspar doesn’t do well in high winds, especially crosswinds along the highway. I don’t do well in the cold. Hell, I don’t seem to do well anymore, regardless of weather, even when it comes to the pleasure of driving Kaspar, my four-on-the-floor, stick-shifting, foot-clutching, no-power-anything VW Westfalia. No pain, no gain, or so it’s said.
Sporting around in the old campervan had been so effortless when I was much younger, say, around two or three years ago. Yeah, right. Aging has presented sizeable physical challenges. Bad knees, bad back, a hip replacement, and arthritic everything, though not stopping me from experiencing the pure joy of driving my vintage veedub, have increasingly limited the time spent behind the wheel. I’ve become more selective in choosing day trips I feel are well worth the wear and tear on us both. Today’s destination is well worth the sacrifice.
The Suncoast Writers Guild meets at Mango Bistro in Englewood, Florida, the last Monday of every month, and today’s the day! Mango’s embodies the artsy, tropical, eclectic spirit of this southwest Florida seaside community. It is warm, welcoming, nautical, and brightly colored. The staff are joyfully hospitable, and the menu choices are as delightful to behold as they are delicious to devour. And, most importantly, to me, they serve up an awesome cup of coffee.
Members of the Guild meet over ZOOM in a variety of writing genre groups throughout the month, but there’s nothing like the real time reunions at Mango Bistro. Those are golden, every bit as much as the stage of life most of us find ourselves now, and that adds an unquantifiable specialness to each gathering. Me and Kaspar always enjoy the outing and wouldn’t want to miss it for anything. Getting ready just takes a little more planning and effort these days.
With our destination being 9.2 miles away, and with it taking twenty minutes to get there, last night I set everything I will need to wear tomorrow, on a chair, and placed all necessary paraphernalia and accouterments on the dining room table, to prevent having to fumble around half-asleep in the morning trying to find it all, and more than likely forgetting something.
I also went out to the garage last night and performed the pre-flight safety check on Kaspar, cleaned his windows, and checked mirror alignment. Readying Kaspar for the road is like readying an old crop duster airplane for takeoff. I prefer to take care of all that while fully awake. With a 9 AM flight destination arrival time, allowing for a forty-minute flight time, an hour for this pilot to dress and make himself look presentable enough to be seen in public, oh, and a good twenty minutes to make a pot of coffee, I set the alarm for 7 AM.
Getting out of bed has gotten to be a chore on any day. Shutting off the alarm this morning, I struggled with a modicum of difficulty and pain to get up and out of bed. I fought the temptation to just lay there awhile, and risk falling back to sleep. Today, I awoke focused and with purpose, like a man on a mission. Once out of bed, the remaining tasks went like clockwork. And now here we are, on our way to the Bistro!
We made it! Just like always, God willing, we made it. And there to greet this old pilot and his Sopwith Camel, are the dozens of waving, smiling, authors, writers, and poets, who make this journey so worthwhile. Mango Bistro has become our clubhouse, the place where the creative child within each of us comes to play. It has also become somewhat of a church, where we outward appearing adults break muffin and drink the “elixir of bean” in celebration of our craft and our humanity, in a spirit of peace and love.
Go, now, in peace and love. This prose has ended.