I want to be a pirate
A pirate’s life for me
All my friends are pirates
And sail the big blue sea
GEORGE HARRISON
I woke up early to prepare for our beach trip to Canasvieiras with neighbor Fred’s mom Sonya, who speaks zero English, but she speaks lots of Portuguese. Ezra was the last one awake and had to be carried down to the car at 8am. Imagine if we had caught the 5:10am bus. One of these days we will catch that bus, maybe tomorrow. I should go down and buy some bread today for tomorrow at the padaria across the street. Ok, we are all set for tomorrow. But what about today? I drove a car today! I drove Sonya’s car or Fred’s car or G’s car. Whoever’s car, I drove it, a manual transmission. I was driving for the first time since we sold our van in Maui almost a year ago. I do not miss driving at all. Ezra was screeching in the back seat, not listening, so I guess he does not miss rising in a car. I was trying to communicate directions with Sonya on where she wanted to go. I had to avoid all signs of Policia Federal or Policia Military because I am not legal to drive. We parked right next to the beach of Canasvieiras near the main street and the playground. A big tree provided some shade in the morning and we had plenty of options to place our umbrella and kangas when we arrived early. Hardly any people down at the beach, but the sand quickly filled up with umbrellas, chairs, and beach towels. People of ages were at the beach. Vendors were selling hats, cashews, swimsuits, drinks, bbq, corn, pineaples, sunglasses, clothing, ice-cold aqua da coco and still the people came to the beach. And just when you thought the beach was packed and could not handle any more people, more umbrellas were planted in the sand – umbrellas atop umbrellas. People were laying out on the beach every which way, not very pretty. I hunkered underneath the shade of our small umbrella. A little 1-year-old boy cried because he wanted to play in the water, but his parents did not want to play in the calm ocean water. Friends carried a wheelchair bound guy into the water with a life-vest to enjoy a swim. They seemed the happiest. Rapping and smiling and laughing to their own sounds, like characters from Cannery Row, here in Floripa! Why does writing need to be a part of my life, and not just writing reports, assessments, and evaluations? We stayed until we were squeezed out and sunned out. Dwana, Viena, and Ezra had fun playing with another family with lots of children celebrating a family reunion from Curitiba. On the drive home we laughed at all the other people heading North stuck in traffic. No traffic for us. I am glad I did not need another lesson on how to drive in traffic. When we came home, Ezra started running into everything. They day continued to heat up and only now do I feel some coolness and clouds in the air, a good day.
oneworldtwokids 