22 March 2008

Walking the perimeter

Tal and I spent the afternoon at Brookgreen Gardens, an outdoor museum of American sculpture on the Waccamaw Neck and the place where I was fortunate to grow up. The afternoon was perfect -- the weather, the company, the location.

The original and primary garden at Brookgreen is walled, the main event in a manner of speaking. But, there is plenty to see no matter where the visitor ends up. We spent our time outside the wall: along Brookgreen Creek, on the boardwalk overlooking the rice fields, at the animal displays. It was frustrating to realize that the time was terribly short and that we couldn't linger to enjoy the late afternoon light -- a definite disadvantage of the earlier-than-normal change to Daylight Savings Time.

Time passes by so fast. Sad to say, there are moments for me when that fact is almost paralyzing. Being paralyzed, of course, unable to chose for fear of choosing wrongly, is to miss out pretty much completely. Every decision we make means deciding for one thing and not deciding for a variety of other things. We have to choose and sometimes unchoose. Making the mistake isn't the problem. Not making what amounts to course corrections, when necessary along the way, is the real mistake.

The perimeter was wonderful. There was so much from which to choose and I think we chose well.

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