A few days ago I ventured south from the kids house in Jacksonville, to Lake Wales for a walk through the gardens of the Bok Tower. Located on the highest point in Florida, the tower has always been a stopping point for our family since I was a very little girl. My mother grew up in Lake Wales, and at one time her father was one of the many groundskeepers at the tower back in the early 1940’s.

While I was stretched out in the grass resting under the shade of the huge oak trees draped in Spanish moss, (which is not actually Spanish or moss by the way) I listened as the huge carillons played their beautiful music on the half hour and hour. I recalled all the many, many times I had placed my head in almost this exact same spot, and it was then that I realized that this was the first that I had been here by myself, with no one to talk with but my memories.

I stayed until the caretaker came to tell me they were closing up for the evening, and then I gradually and slowly, made my way back down the hill through the gardens to the car.

It was a beautiful day.

http://www.boktowergardens.org/