Thoughts from Beach Week
I think about what the beach means to me. It is a powerful multisensory experience:
The beach where we spend our week is not crowded and not cluttered with high rise buildings. We have been going there for over 20 years. When we arrive, I can't wait for that first look. It is vast and open like a breath of fresh air. The ocean can be smooth or rough. Waves can be long and gentle or short and choppy. The tide comes in and goes it out. It is always changing, yet somehow the same. The sand is soft and smooth or rough and pebbly. I search for shells. I look at the clouds, also light and fluffy or dark, fast moving and ominous. The sky is "big".
I close my eyes and hear the waves, again always changing: slow and gentle, loud and rough. I hear the birds come and go and an occasional human conversation or music, and laughter of those playing in the waves.
I feel the sand on my feet and I feel the soothing, healing salt water, the warmth of the sun, the gentle breeze or strong wind.
I smell wonderful, healing salty air. Sometimes I smell a bit of rotted sea life o cigar smoke from someone nearby.
As I bob up and down with the waves, the accidental taste of salt water also seems welcoming and healing.
My senses are sharp and discerning at the beach.
As fulfilling as these experiences are, the sixth sense is that meaningful place where it all comes together. It is a welcoming place where I can sit, drink it all in, be in the moment. For me, it is direct communication between the world and my spirit, the divine, God. I have other wonderful moments with human and animal spirits, but there is something different. For me it is my "healing place". No expectations, no wondering how to communicate what is in my soul. It just happens. It is there for whoever wants to experience this opportunity. My muscles relax and my mind clears. Sometimes I think about other things in my life and sometimes I lay back and let thoughts drift in and out of my mind. It is an important part of my spiritual life and development.
When my toes are sunk into warm sand
and the ocean is lapping my feet,
when I breathe in the scent of the salt
and hear the cry of the seagull,
I know that I am returned to a place of restoration
I am home.
I can heal here
Toni Sorenson
In My Corner Today
She
A Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 1955. In this beautiful little book, the author explores the stages of a marriage and the issues that were concerning her at the time, the stresses of a busy family life filled with endless activities, issues that are still prevalent today.
Other favorite beach reads:
Dorothea Benton Frank is my all-time favorite beach-read author. Her stories are set in the lowcountry and in the small islands near Charleston, SC. Some of my favorites are:
Return To Sullivan's Island
Bulls Island
Sullivan's Island
Pawley's Island
Shells I always seem to collect. Lately, I have searched for those with small holes. I then attach them to the border of shawls I knit
My beach knitting project. I have a tradition of stopping by "The Salty Sheep" yarn shop on my way to the beach. The owner always shows me beautiful yarn and a great pattern. I have about four completed projects that started this way. The first year, I bought the most beautiful yarn called Sea Silk. This year I am making a lovely striped wrap. I love traditions.
P.S. Life is Calling
One evening Steve and I were sitting at the pool. It was close to sunset. The pool is very lovely, located just over the dunes. The beginning of the sunset was looking really beautiful. In past years, we used to sit out on the beach and watch it. We haven't done this so much lately. The view from the pool and our balcony is usually great! But this night, I wondered what it looked like on the beach. So I told Steve I was going to walk out the walkway and take a look. He decided to stay there. I took my cell phone just in case there was a good picture. I reached the end of the walkway, took my shoes off and trudged through the loose sand and then, WOW. it was a beautiful sight. I walked closer to the shore and started walking toward the setting sun. Ankle deep in the water and feeling the waves, I sent Steve a text "out here for awhile, walking toward the pier". As sunsets on the beach do, the light and colors kept changing showing different reflections in the water. I walked towards it until the sun had fully set and it was dark, stopping occasionally to snap a picture, but mostly just taking it in, my sixth sense fully engaged.
That night, life called me to get out of my cozy corner at the pool and engage in it and the reward was great.
"Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?"
Mary Oliver
The Summer Day
New and Selected Poems
1992
