Sun-Kissed Mountains and a Distant Embrace

Today was not as straightforward as I had expected.

We were filming again, and to call the organisation loose would be generous. The day began with getting lost on the way to the location — arriving late, only to find that the location itself offered very little worth pointing a camera at. So we packed everything back up and drove around in the fading afternoon light looking for a plan B, which is not an ideal way to spend the hours when the sun is slowly setting.

By the end of the search, we found something genuinely stunning. Mountains catching the last of the light, rising over a stretch of emerald water that looked like it had been placed there deliberately, just for this. I moved quickly to make the most of what remained of the day and we got what was needed.

And in the end, all of the earlier chaos mattered very little. Watching Louis move through the form in a location like that has a way of dissolving whatever frustration preceded it. The mess of the morning was simply the price of admission to an evening worth having.

The day drifted into night and I met a friend for drinks. The conversation was easy and warm. But my mind kept drifting — not to the drink, not to the conversation — to someone many miles away who is somehow still very present in my heart.

Distance is hard when feelings are real. I miss her in a way that is simple and honest and doesn't require much elaboration. I would love nothing more than to be wrapped in her embrace right now. That is not going to happen just yet. But the future is open, and I am choosing to hold it that way.

Tomorrow I am looking forward to a slow and quiet Sunday. Shopping, a book in the park, some time alone with no particular agenda. The kind of day that restores without asking anything in return.

Next week will arrive faster than expected, and with it the return of training — all its pleasures and its pains, its demands and its quiet rewards. I look forward to it. But right now, rest is what is needed.

And rest, tonight, is exactly what I intend to give myself.