First Of May, First Of May

 It's Jessie's birthday. She is thirty-six years old. As I said yesterday, I have no idea how this can be. As I told Billy in a text today, she will always be nineteen to me, dancing around and being happy, breaking hearts and becoming a nurse. Or else, maybe two years old, riding around in a sling on my chest. 
One of those, possibly, but not thirty-six. 
And yet, here she is, beautiful and shining, thirty-six indeed, mother of two of my grandchildren, a real-life nurse, a giggler, a darling girl, and also, my friend. 
How lucky I am. 
I was incredibly humbled and thrilled that that she wanted to spend the day with me. We did indeed decide to go to Wakulla Springs which is one of the very best things in North Florida. I have no idea how many times I've written about the springs and the lodge there, and how they made Tarzan movies and Creature From the Black Lagoon movies there, and the incredible springs that put forth 300 million gallons of water per day from Florida's upper aquifer, and the fact that giant mastodon  bones have been found in the spring's cavern, and every type of Florida wildlife that I know of lives in or around the springs, including the 12 foot alligator that Jessie saw today. 
And so much more. 
It is my favorite place to take visitors to show them what Florida was and still is in very rare places. If you have ever visited me and I have taken you on one of the jungle boat rides at Wakulla Springs, you know I love you. 

There's a lodge at the springs that a very wealthy man named Ed Ball built in 1935 which still stands and still offers accommodations and has a dining room and a smaller place to eat which used to be the old soda fountain. There's a gift shop in that room now too. 

The entire place, lodge, springs, and surrounding unspoiled acres of forest and wetlands are now a state park and I am very proud that my tax dollars go to help fund it. Here are a few pictures I took today.

Old Joe. Alligator in a glass box. Murdered in 1966.

Part of the lodge that faces the springs. Weddings and other events are held here.

The ceiling in the lobby.

Beautiful iron work.

The lobby.

The entrance to the lodge. 

Jessie and I had a lovely lunch of salads, as ladies-who-lunch are wont to do, and she had a most delicious slice of ginger cheesecake with bourbon flavoring. 

I had a bite. So. Damn. Good.

We talked, talked, talked about everything. Jessie is so kind to let me go on about my memories, many of them about her and her brother and sisters when they were young. And when we were through eating, we decided to go take a dip in the springs, that holy fount of cold, pure water, bubbling up from so far beneath the earth. In summer the swimming area gets crazy with kids, yelling and splashing and whooping and hollering and being kids. Today was not crowded at all. A few groups of what looked to be college-aged students, some parents with very young children or babies, a few families on vacation, I presume. 

We went and stood in the water for quite awhile, cooling off, before we did the plunge. Just like the Wacissa. Jess swam over to that dock to the right and you can see her, actually, leaning over and looking at the water. That's where she saw the gigantic alligator who snapped his jaws so loudly that she couldn't believe it. 
Generally, the gators stay out of the roped off swimming area and the only person I've ever heard of who was attacked, made the dire and fatal mistake of ignoring the warnings and swimming down the river. 
He died. 
But no one died today and we drove back to Tallahassee. I, at least, felt so much more relaxed and at peace than I had before we got there. My skin still feels cool. 

Tonight Jessie and Vergil and the boys are going to go to a nice restaurant on the nearby park where the boys can play while their mom and dad take advantage of the peace for a little time together. 

Saturday some of the ladies in our family are going out for pedicures and then all of us who can will meet at a Mexican restaurant because you know us. 

I found an account of Jessie's birth that I wrote SEVENTEEN YEARS AGO on her nineteenth birthday. You can find that HERE. Honestly, I didn't realize I've been blessing hearts that long. Just as I can't believe my children have achieved the number of years they have, I feel much the same about my blog. 
Thanks, Hank.

Mr. Moon will be home in about an hour. I would say that I guess he's ready to see his wife but we cannot discount the possibility he is just so ready to go open the door of his brand new old log cabin. 
Meanwhile, I need to go fix some supper. It's always strange when he comes home at first. There's a transition I have to go through before I feel settled again. We are both aware of this and we joke about it, but it's a real thing. Going from having no one to take care of but myself, to having a very, very tall man in the house who needs and deserves consideration is not nothing. 

But I always do. 

Maurice will be glad to see him too, I am sure, although she will display her unhappiness at the fact that he left by ignoring him for a little while. 
Or maybe not. You never know.

Meanwhile, it is Jessie's birthday. My darling baby girl. That fourth child that I was so sure I did not need. 
And the universe laughed and laughed. 

And oh! One more thing, and you KNOW I had to say this today because I always say this on the first of May. 

First of May, first of May.

Outdoor fucking begins today. 

I could make a rude joke about May poles but I will not. 

Love...Ms. Moon

Lagniappe:

My first real true boyfriend. That man in a loin cloth? 
Well. 

Yes.