Tourist in my own Town

I try to never forget how lucky I am to live where I live, but to be honest, sometimes I let other things crowd my mind and I don't truly appreciate the beauty of this wonderful place.

Yesterday I took my grandson on a driving tour of the Lake Pontchartrain lakefront in New Orleans and through City Park.

While both venues are better seen on foot, and I have logged countless miles on foot in both places, it was just too hot, so we drove and stopped occasionally to take pictures.

What a beautiful place I live in. The wonders of nature and the wonders of man surround me here.

I ended up feeling the weight of my grief very profoundly, Cecil and I spent so many happy hours in the places I went to yesterday that I felt his absence as deeply as I have ever felt it.

Yin and Yang. Gratitude and Grief. Beauty and Heartache. Life is endlessly wonderful and complicated. Some days, all of those things are present in my heart.