Together

Was driving my motorcycle on the Cabot Trail a bucket list item? You bet, and you can add in there – sharing in it all with my girl.

And, it was magnificent. The roads beckoned us, cajoling us to lean in from one curve to the next, some bends unfolding into mind-blowing coastal vistas, and some unfolding into a canopy of green soothing stretches of east coast forest. All the while, the bike’s pipes roared and spat their determination to conquer every inch of ground traveled, shamelessly shattering whatever semblance of tranquility that may have preceded them.

The wind whipped past us, the salty breeze splashing errant rain drops over our faces from clouds that the weather app had assured us wouldn’t be there, and the mid-day sun wicked it all from our skin. The water spout feasting on the open ocean at the Veteran’s Monument proclaimed the power of Mother Nature, and I held you close while we silently appreciated Her mighty beauty together.

You laugh as the ocean splashes over the bow of the kayak, the cold salty spray heightening the excitement of paddling the tide as it embraces the shore. The sound of your uninhibited joy courses through me, and happily impales me upon the moment. The rocky monuments with so many imaginative names become nothing more than outcrops as the ocean claims what is and was Hers all along. We had earlier joined in the daily dance of teasing access for tourists eager to walk where She, in a matter of mere hours, would make her inexorable presence known. Now, paddling where we had once stood a short time before was as incredible as it was humbling.

It was a trip that I’ll remember forever, but it wasn’t the ocean, or the Cabot Trail, as amazing as they may be, that has been imprinted on my mind. It was the time together, with you.

The road stretches out endlessly before us and beyond the obvious accounting of distance remaining, we push it from our minds. This isn’t about the distance, for that is immutable and must be accepted, it is about the journey.

REO Speedwagon plays on the radio, their voices harmonizing perfectly with the road beneath us as we speed towards the rest of our lives together. I look over and you, somehow already knowing I was going to gaze upon you before I knew it myself, catch my eye and give me that sweet little smile of yours. You know the one.

We reach toward one another unscripted and our fingers entwine, their digits forming a silent symphony of song celebrating our love for one another, and our passion for living our best lives, together.

It was a great trip but one that I hope merely heralds the beginning of a lifetime of more to come, and celebrates regardless of the destination, the journey together.

R.T. Pleiades