My Take
DiVoran Lites
August 1, 1983
Dear Ones,
Well now, I don’t know when I wrote to you last. It’s a cloudy day here after a weekend of hot sunny days. Waunita and I wear short pants and sleeveless shirts to try and stay cool.
We went to the beach on Saturday and Sunday. Sister Judy is here with us now. It has been a long time since she has seen our brother Smithy. He was almost grown-up when she was born. I prayed for a baby sister, and the Lord answered my prayer, but Smithy being a young man, didn’t seem to take much interest in her.
The first day, we went down the trail through the trees and the ferns. The bank at the water’s edge had worn away some. As we came out to the water, we had to hold onto the smaller trees while we carefully made our way down what was left of the bank.
We stopped at my rock, the black one about the size of a Volkswagen flattened out. It was looking smooth, warm, and clean, showing a purple-black color. We sat on it for a while. I caressed its smooth warmth. We walked in the wet but more solid sand up to the battery at the park coming out just north of the pier. Along the way, we looked up from gathering white stones just in time to see an eagle glide by. He had a white head and tail. Shortly after that, we saw two blue herons flying over the water together. It reminded me of seeing them on the river at Mendocino.
The second day at the beach, we went down the same way and turned south toward East Beach. After a leisurely fifteen-minute walk, we came to a humungous old tree trunk with its roots lying on the sand. It was at least four feet around, and if you included the tree itself and the root system, you could see that it might fill a 10-foot square room. We wondered if it would be there for a while or if the tides would take it away.
L
As we turned back to the opening, we saw a young doe who had come out on the same trail. She froze into the background and stayed a long time as we continued to walk toward her. Then our dog Misty saw her, and she saw Misty about the same time, so she ran. I was puzzled about why she weaved so when running until I realized that she was up near the driftwood running on the soft, damp sand. Her tracks were quite deep. I hope she found her way back to the opening by supper time. The deer swim from one island to the next in search of food. The lettuce green seaweed is good for deer to snack on, but she would eventually need something other than the salty water of the straights to drink.
The park was almost full for the sunny weekend, and we enjoyed seeing children running around. They never seemed to walk. We watched an Asian group. They had a momma and poppa tent and a tent for 5 or 10 boys about nine years old. (It just looked like ten boys the way they ran around in circles.)
I went to church again yesterday. That young pastor is so happy he makes everyone else feel happy.
I’m at Fort Flagler washing clothes. We had to shut the door to the laundromat. Even with my yellow sweater on, It’s cold. As we look out the big window, we can see that the water looks as gray as the sky moving softly. There are no ships or boats this morning.
Dad’s hand healed up fine. He’s getting ready to pull his crab traps.
Love,
Mother and Dad
DiVoran has been writing for most of her life. Her first attempt at a story was when she was seven years old and her mother got a new typewriter. DiVoran got to use it and when her dad saw her writing he asked what she was writing about. DiVoran answered that she was writing the story of her life. Her dad’s only comment was, “Well, it’s going to be a very short story.” After most of a lifetime of writing and helping other writers, DiVoran finally launched her own dream which was to write a novel of her own. She now has her Florida Springs trilogy and her novel, a Christian Western Romance, Go West available on Amazon. When speaking about her road to publication, she gives thanks to the Lord for all the people who helped her grow and learn. She says, “I could never have done it by myself, but when I got going everything fell beautifully into place, and I was glad I had started on my dream.”
Old Things R New 
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