The App

 God God, how I hate the Winter.  It's hard to believe that we're officially almost one month into Spring. Here, in the northeast, Winter drags way into the end of April, at the very least. When Spring finally does feel as it should, we get catapulted into the bowels of hot, nasty Summer. Every year, come Labor Day, I promise that the following months will be different from their counterparts of the year before. And every Winter, I start whining about how next year, I won't have anything to whine about. And so it goes.

I found this nifty app on my iPhone. It's called Journal. Never knew it was there and can't say how and why I finally discovered it. But, it is part of my life, a huge part. Unfortunately, like everything else in the tech world, it takes the place of something that once was more time consuming and perhaps, messy. Instead of writing here, I find that I write there and do so very quickly and precisely when the daily prompt invites me to do so. Intuitively, it (the app) knows where I've been, even proving so by popping up a map or a photo that I may have snapped while I was at the mapped place. It's magical and almost scary in that it captures my every move and reminds me that I must comment in some way on what I've been up to. It even tugs me to write down how I am "feeling" or how I "felt" at one place or another. 
"Lynn, how was your visit to Wendy's" or "Did you enjoy your ride along Route 137?". It's hard to resist. So, I tend to write it all down and very quickly, without an edit, I have a new opinion piece of a memoir part, saved for time in memoriam. Photos, maps, even and emoji or two. Done. 

This past Winter, I fulfilled an obligation to myself. Booked an incredible two week vacation, smack-dab in the center of the cold month of January. Fabulous visit to Portugal, again. I flipped out over Lisbon when there in June last year and knew that Joe would also fall in love with the country and well, yes, he did. My Journal app has all of the photos and daily accounts to prove that it was the perfect choice and a great way to start the dreary season. Portugal is now, our happy place. We're even thinking about spending a few months there next Winter. Of course, we won't abandon our beloved Italy. Umbria awaits us in November. So far, so good. Can't wait.

But Portugal is a totally different goddess. Lisbon is Lisbon. The coast of Portugal is the coast of Portugal. The people are the nicest, warmest and friendliest people we have ever encountered. My little Journal app is app-app-happy. I wrote dozens of nice things, every single day. 

And soon, we'll be embarking on another adventure as we travel to Cornwall in the U.K. and then to Dublin. By the time we return, Spring may actually be in full swing and plans for getting away again will be on the drawing board. 

Until then, my app will be filled with little stories and thoughts about the time spent in between adventures, the hours whining about the weather and the endless Winter. It's a good thing that the app cannot speak.

Or can it?