This morning I awoke to the insistent melodic trill of a territorial Carolina Warbler in the Japanese maple tree outside my bedroom window. Yes, I’m now in Carolina. Aiken, South Carolina to be exact. Yes, it’s been awhile since I’ve been here 
on this blog. A lot has happened and nothing at all. The big thing is that I began to play polo again. After twenty five long years, with nothing but stunt-like and WAY too out of shape episodes on a fox hunt with the Palm Beach Hounds and Stag hunting with the Devon and Somerset in England, I finally began to apply myself to the thing that redefined me to myself; that is, to be a rider. And even more challenging; to play polo once again. I’ll not go into rhapsodic detail about my passion for the sport, but I will state that it has made me feel proud of my age. (That and the occasional fillers and Botox that are applied to my persona in key areas of my face… Shhhhh! Don’t tell anyone! )I hear I don’t look my age. Because of polo, I definitely don’t feel it.
At Palm City Polo, a private club on a dirt road, across Rt 441 from the northern reaches of the Everglades, I discovered a setting and Joey Casey, a polo professional that helped me get back my riders legs and try to learn to hit the ball again. In doing so I rediscovered a key place of happiness within me: My natural state. As the only girl member in a pack of competitive, athletic brothers, being “one of the boys” is my interior psyche’s natural Modus Operandi. I enjoy being one of the boys. And I rediscovered that playing rough and tumble games, galloping shoulder to shoulder with opponents, racing to possess the ball, challenging my fears, and laughing so hard at my own ineptness, that my sides hurt, gives me great happiness. Afterwards, there’s an enjoyable afterglow as the adrenalin dissipates over a beer either in regret at the missed opportunities or savoring the success of a particular shot. Playing polo gave me a sense of belonging I haven’t felt in a very long time. Of all things that I am, I am proud to say once again, “I am a polo player.”
But I left Florida… rather suddenly. After six years in Palm Beach, living in charming cottages, and even a swanky penthouse on the water, I decided it was just time to go. Being “solo” I can make decisions without consultation. I decided I have “been there, done that”. I made many new friends, who have become old friends. I’ve loved the weather, even in summer (when it’s empty and feels like a true beach town). I know every bartender, and valet attendant in town, not because I drink, but because I refuse to stay home alone, even if I don’t have someone to go out with. I’m unapologetically social. I tried to start a new media biz with a great concept, but it was grossly under-capitalized. At least tried, it’s still a great concept, and I’m proud of my product. I love Palm Beach, but it was time.
The greatest thing Palm Beach has given me is: stories and characters. Lots of them. The good, the bad, the botoxed and botched, the liars and cons, the cheating husbands, the gold digging, hustling women and men. The famous, the infamous, in a small town bordered by the most stunning blue, green clear ocean waves that endlessly roll onto that sandy strip of island beach. I love Palm Beach, and I have come away to write about it. Sometimes the right distance offers the perspective to see clearly. I have come to Aiken, South Carolina, under a canopy of live oaks and Southern Pines to write and ride in a place that has been home, for a hundred years to the full range of equestrian sport. Fox hunting, polo, steeplechase, racing, trotters; its all right here in this small southern town. I hope the view looking back at Palm Beach will be clear, witty, fun and honest. It’s the two books I need to finish that have brought me here to a quiet place where there are few excuses to not do a writers work.
So my friends,(and there have been over 20,000 views of this blog) I am writing again. Read on. Sign on (as a follower). And please, pass it on. Your reading eyes are the ears I tell my stories to.
I’ll be be back. Stay tuned.
Marianne
Suddenly Single in Palm Beach 