It was a Red Bench by the ocean.

The tall grass, who mightily swayed to the wind, stood between my feet and the white grain sand.  The dance of the greenery resembled a pattern of a thousand rats racing through the grass in unison just below the grassline, out of sight, and occasionally changing direction as the wind decided to shift slightly west.

Sunrays radiating on my skin and waves lightly beating the shore, I popped open my 台灣啤酒, a.k.a. Taiwan Beer, and lied down watching the clouds move at unreal speeds. It was a classic moment of having the legs propped up and lying down while clouds race across a crisp blue sky. But how many times have we actually done such a thing?

Two benchlength’s away, the pop of a newly opened can signals my uncle joining me in our alcoholic hydration. We proceed to have Conversation: temples about the ocean God of the island, the lack of wood leading to stone buildings, riding motorbikes, women in bikinis, and more.

It was the kind of talk where I felt the heartstring being touched, despite the level of conversation hovering at the border/verge of reaching actual depth due to my Chinese language limitations.

Over the years, I’ve been about taking advantage of all the time available in vacations and seeing everything, squeezing every last pulp of the “What to Do” Guide. Either growing up or understanding that vacation is only a few weeks a year has gotten me to understand that a single moment like this could define an entire vacation, rather than seeing every last tourist attraction.

Heck, these slow, surreal moments in the middle of a busy week just seem to make the work that much more meaningful, the sky that much more blue, the connections that much more real.

What a blessing life is .. appreciating every Red Bench, 台灣啤酒 , and Conversation.