Bidding goodbye to Key West until next year, Lord willing, I ran across this photo taken by my daughter, and was reminded of a little ode to islands that I penned a few years ago. The thoughts - with a couple of fresh additions - still hold true.
What is it about an island that stirs the soul? I know and love a good many of them, each one different and beautiful in its own way, and yet they all have the same capacity to heal what ails you.
Artists, writers, and musicians especially love them, with rebels, renegades, adventurers, fugitives and castaways not far behind. It all makes for a very delicious stew.
For instance, most people live for the sunsets in Key West, but my daughter and I are up and out before daylight. While we go our separate ways with our own agendas, we frequently end up crossing paths.
Both of us were down on the southern tip one morning just after sunrise. A rainstorm had moved through, providing us with the remnants of a rainbow over the ocean.
Maybe it is the added element of the sea, never static, eternally swirling around the little spit of land that keeps you dry at the moment, or maybe it is the light, dancing as soon as the sun shows its face, or maybe it’s just magic - but whatever the reason, every island I have ever had the pleasure of meeting offers a healing balm for the soul.
And that’s why I love them.
Photo by Ashley Oliphant.
I look forward to your next book, "A Southerner's Guide to the Beauty and History of Key West". I'd read it.
“…the remnants of rainbows…”