Monday, November 28th
I awoke refreshed and ready for fun with Matt & Rachael. Unfortunately, Matt had to work, so I only saw him in the early mornings and later evenings. It was only Rachael and I who went out adventuring each day.
However, before I talk about our daily adventures, I’ll tattle on myself so all my Alaska friends can ridicule me. Let me preface this by saying that the last five weeks of warm weather has spoiled me…When I got up Monday morning for my daily walk, it was about 65 degrees outside. I was only outside about 30 minutes before I decided it was TOO COLD to walk in shorts and came back to the house. Rachael was gracious and did NOT make fun of me, (so shame on those of you who are laughing at me).
Once I had recovered from my near-hypothermic state, Rachael and I chatted about the plan for the day. She said she was up for any adventure that wasn’t too strenuous (since she was still recovering from surgery she’d had a week earlier). She also mentioned that she had a job interview that morning, so I solo’d around St. Petersburg, getting a few errands done in the mid-morning until her interview was over, then we met back at the house. We decided to go check out some of the nearby labyrinths, along with a lunch break.
My goodness…. Our success rate for labyrinth walking on Day 1 in St. Petersburg and surrounding areas was only 25%. Three of the four labyrinths we went to were no longer in existence. In one instance, we couldn’t find it anywhere on the property.
Our first stop was the First Unity Spiritual Campus, located at 460 46th Ave N in St. Petersburg.
Several areas were gated off and blocked, and despite the church’s bookstore staff saying it was still there, they didn’t actually know exactly WHERE it was…). We walked the property several times, but just couldn’t find it anywhere and eventually gave up.
The Salvador Dali Museum was our next stop, and we were shocked and disappointed to find they had torn out the labyrinth about a month earlier and were in the middle of a museum expansion. I mean, I’m all for museum and expansions, but tearing out the hedge labyrinth? Look at how beautiful and amazing the labyrinth was. It’s HEARTBREAKING.
Dismayed but undeterred, we decided to venture a bit further afield to Pinellas Park, which was about 10 mils away from St. Peterburg.
Pinellas Park was alleged to have two labyrinths- one built by the young women of Girls Inc. of Pinellas Park, and one at Suncoast Hospice Care Center Mid-Pinellas.
Girls Inc is a North American non-profit dedicated to helping girls ‘learn to value their whole selves, discover and develop their inherent strengths, and receive the support they need to navigate the challenges they face’. Rachael was familiar with their program and had good things to say about them.
Suncoast Hospice is a member of Empath Health, ‘the country’s largest not-for-profit health system delivering non-acute care and services through its skilled, medical and holistic programs to individuals with chronic, advanced and terminal illnesses or experiencing grief throughout North Central, West Central and Southwest Florida.’
Both are wonderful programs providing vitally necessary services. Sadly, only one still had a labyrinth.
The leadership team at Girls Inc. informed us that their labyrinth had been dismantled, but that the young ladies in the program would be rebuilding it ‘soon’. They asked for our contact information so the could contact us when it was complete. Rachael expressed interest in revisiting it when it was rebuilt, so she left her information, and we were off on our fourth labyrinth attempt.
Suncoast Hospice DID have a labyrinth (one out of four isn’t the worst possible outcome for our day of adventuring…), and it was beautifully peaceful there. I’ll gladly share my experience in a later Labyrinth Lessons post. In this post, I want to take a moment to talk about the Hospice itself. It was lovely, peaceful and welcoming. There was no sense of despair or morbidity. Everything from the property’s grounds to the buildings and facility were clean and well lit. The staff was friendly and accommodating. All in all, it did not evoke the feelings I expected to experience while I was there, and I left with a feeling of tranquility. I am sure that was, in part, due to the labyrinth, but I know the facility itself was positively impactful.
It was a privilege to be able to go there, see the facility and walk the labyrinth and grounds.
We left the hospice, both in a contemplative and reflective frame of mind, and returned to their home.
Rachael and Matt had an early evening engagement, but we agreed to meet up for dinner later- giving me time to run a couple more errands.
Unfortunately (for them), their evening engagement was cancelled at the last minute. While the cancellation was unfortunate, it meant we had the chance for a long, leisurely dinner and conversation at Lotus Vegan Restaurant in Pinellas Park. The food was yummy, but a bit spicier than my palate could handle (lesson learned for next time).
After dinner, we went back to their place and enjoyed a quiet evening of conversation before retiring early.
Before we all parted company for the night, Rachel told me about an amazing perk of being a member of their library system.The Pinellas Public Library Cooperative has partnerships with area museums, allowing free admission that is valid for up to 2 adults and 3 children, (under the age of 18), from the same household. And there are A LOT of participating museums, 12 to be exact!
Rachael left it to me to decide where I wanted to go on Tuesday and since my best friend Debbie was Jewish, I decided that the Florida Holocaust Museum was our Tuesday destination (even though I knew about the Holocaust).
I had also found ANOTHER labyrinth within a reasonable driving distance, so we had our two major agenda items planned and we all turned in for the night.
Fantastic day (and night) with friends. ✔️
Happiness in my heart. ✔️
