by Jacqueline Chevrier
I spent my morning at one of the most beautiful hotels in the world- The Breakers. One of the benefits to living in Florida is our incredible proximity to beautiful properties that many people travel far and wide to visit. I like to get a coffee and sit in the gorgeous lobby, where I bring my journal and soak in the glorious details. The light streams in past the arches that lead out to one of the magnificent courtyard and I unfocus my eyes like one of the Magic Pictures from the 80s. All of the textures, colors and sounds converge into a rich sensory experience. I think of the Breakers as my “Other Office”- I do my best work in a beautiful hotel lobby, what can I say? There is something particularly focusing about being in an energetic hub, with people coming and going.
Every week, the onsite floral team makes this incredible arrangement for the lobby. I mean, look at this:
And yet, people just strolled by unaware, doused in the blue light of their phone screens. Do you get the impression that we are all living in a weird simulation? I remember watching The Matrix for the first time and finding it terrifying because it was so plausible. The Matrix came out in 1999 when cell phones really were not the focal point of peoples’ lives as they are today. What was terrifying then is now all but a forgone conclusion in most peoples’ lives. They don’t look up anymore. They don’t interact with the beauty that is all around. I worry for humanity. I worry for my kids. I wonder what Henry Flagler would have thought about current crop of souls milling around in his temple of excellence. In a rush to go nowhere, to be seen doing nothing but wearing the same shoes as everyone else. Would he be saddened to know that people are plugged into their own personal versions of the Matrix all the time now? I am. Perhaps that is why some of us are still seeking out places of timeless beauty; there are places in this world that feel like a gift and the Breakers is one of those places.
This is a meandering post born of a fear that those places of timeless beauty might some day cease to exist if we don’t hold witness to them. There is a trend to post the perfect Instagram shot or get that TikTok reel to show your friends you’ve “been there, done that.” Us old souls living in a digital world are still tending the fire, like acolytes in the Temple of Aphrodite- entreating others to wake up and see the beauty of God’s creation all around us.
I entreat you to take yourself to coffee in a beautiful place this week. Tell me about it…better yet, let’s go together.