No Pier Pressure for Me

We had nothing on our calendar for our last Sunday here in Tampa.

“Wanna go down to the Pier in St Petersburg?” I asked Ronda.

“And do what?” was her reply.

“I don’t know. Walk around? Watch people. Have lunch. Grab some beers?”

We headed towards Pinellas County and were super fortunate to find a parking spot right on Beach Drive. We strolled along St. Pete Pier and browsed the local vendor booths and kiosks, listened to a busker sing some Eric Clapton, and watched a few pelicans lazily glide along the pilings.

No worries. No hurries.

Kids were playing in the grassy areas while a few locals roller-bladed past us. We heard parts of conversations around us in Spanish, Russian, and possibly Chinese. It was a true melting pot and not because the sun was beating down on us and temperatures were in the upper 80’s.

I don’t think I checked to see what time it was once.

I’m pretty sure I didn’t check texts or emails the entire time we walked from the car to the end of the pier and back again.

No worries. No hurries.

“How long for a table?”

The hostess at Fresco Waterfront Bistro answered, “We can seat you inside immediately. To sit outside it’ll be 25-30 minutes.”

“We’ll wait for a table along the water.”

I grabbed a beer from the bar and Ronda enjoyed a cold Diet Coke.

We watched the boats come in and out of St Petersburg Municipal Marina as private planes took off from the Albert Whitted Airport. We got a table right along the railing and enjoyed listening to the seagulls, hearing the horns from tourist boats heading out to Tampa Bay or the Gulf of Mexico, and the constant spitting of water from the various boats’ bilge pumps.

No worries. No hurries.

After lunch, we walked back to one of the local vendor kiosks to grab a couple of items for our townhome. Just a few “local” art pieces to hang on the walls that will show future visitors that we are part tourists still and part locals.

Downtown St. Pete has a whole vibe to itself any day of the week but a late Spring Sunday is a little different. The sidewalks of Central Ave were bustling with both tourists and locals and traffic was slowly moving along searching for any open parking space that might appear.

Once again, fortune was with us as we found an opening right in front of Cycle Brewing, one of the area’s best breweries. I texted my friend Bill (who moved to St Pete a few years ago) who jumped at the chance to walk a few blocks to join us.

No worries. No hurries.

Work hard this week. Try to sell some houses, get some listings, or earn some referrals if you can.

Fill your schedule with appointments, open houses, and closings.

Some days you’re gonna hurry. Some things will give you worries.

Just make sure you find your “pier” or some other place in your town where you can hit CTRL-ALT-DELETE every now and then.

Someplace where you won’t have to hurry and you won’t need to worry.