Ocean Musings

There are very few places that I love more than a warm sunny beach by the ocean. I've been able to enjoy two trips to the beach while visiting my Mom in FL this week. I started to swim as an infant, and grew up at the swimming pool and on the Ohio River. I swam competitively but never brilliantly. My heart never seeks competition; it was born preferring peace and consensus.
The ocean seems to be a very healing place for me physically and spiritually. Spiritually, I feel open and connected to God and the splendor of the universe when I see the beauty, the grandeur, the apparently never ending expanse of water. The sound of the waves, rolling or even crashing in toward the beach are soporific, making mr calm, sleepy, peaceful, as if the water and tides call the water of my body into communion with their motion. In and out, the motion soothes my labored breathing into a pattern that mimics the rolling tide. My blood pressure drops to a normal range and my heartbeat slows, soothed.
Even when the water is too cool for most, I must take the plunge, first wading into the foamy wake, then plunging, diving into a large rolling wave. I lie on my back, face turned to the sun, basking in its warmth as the ocean rocks me back and forth in its arms. When the sun pinks my cheeks, I roll over, cooling my sun kissed cheeks and let the sun work it's warm, healing magic on my back and shoulders. I spring to my fett, laughing, as I jump the waves, body surfing. The buoyancy and salt make my body feel weightless, every cell, joint and bone is supported by the water, and for a brief time, I am totally pain free, playful, alive.
As I stand and walk toward the shore, I am warm and tired. When I try to leave her embrace, the ocean grabs at me pulling me back- first playfully, then forcefully, using her undertow to try to keep me with her, knowing as I do, that she is my true love and my real home.