The Good Life

Drifting with direction

I complimented the woman next to my swim lane on her pink sun hat.

“It’s called sun shades,” she replied proudly.

“It even has two drawstrings to adjust it on the head and under the chin,” she continued.

Reclined on her water noodle, the woman in the pink hat and matching SPF-50 long-sleeve shirt drifted in her swim lane — her water shoes splashing in the pool.

I remembered the negative comment of a dad to his son about drifting in the pool with no purpose in life on the recent podcast Presenting Hidden Brain: Unlocking Your Purpose — Chasing Life — Omny.fm

What if our state of relaxation leads to unlocking our purpose, or just living the good life for a brief moment hidden behind sun shades and resting back on a noodle squinting at the sun?

Many thanks to Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她) for publishing this piece. I thought that the noodle scene I have witnessed today during my quick hour of swimming in between real estate appointments and picking up the kids from school was perfect for her wonderful publication.

And for the record, I did end up buying a blue sun shades hat from Amazon. What else can I say about my short swim? Well, I wrote a story, had a lovely conversation with a gregarious stranger, I experienced a new drifting appreciation of life, and bought a new hat! Isn’t life grand?

Thanks so much for reading my short forms.

Yours truly Carmen Micsa, aka “the beast short form” writer, as Katie Michaelson cleverly nicknamed me based on my short form piece that I wrote for her wonderful publication entitled I am the beast.