The day after Labor Day, I drive a rented Peaugot filled with my wife, her brother, sister, and sister-in-law around Sao Miguel, in the Azores, Portugal.

We travel around the winding roads in Sete Cidades, viewing Lagoas Verde and Azul. We stop in the village at the floor of the Caldera. Drive by the ubiquitous hedges of hydrangeas that Mira loves. Eat Cozinha do Furno, a local meat stew cooked in springs within calderas.

All while my former colleagues prepare their classrooms, keep themselves awake through beginning-of-year staff meetings, meet the students of their new classes for the first time.

Lucky me!

flying home

I enter the Autumn

of my life

My latest for dVerse Poets Pub’s latest Open-link Night.