These three photos show where I take an hour and a half drive to walk a place I call paradise. I feel refreshed, and get reminded of the bigger picture of life. ENDLESS and GREATER than my personality, needs, and woes.
OK, I also fantasize about who lives here and what their life must be like with the vastness of an ocean, boats, and people of all ages playing outside in sand and water.
I identify with the parents who dig in the sand with their children, carry baby wipes, fly a kite, spin Frisbee, and the bigger kids, who bring their friends, pitching their towels far from their parents. Boomers walk their dogs.
I like to people watch. Catch an eye to eye. I am consistently surprised by the loud sound of the water. I collect rocks and drift wood. I walk until the tide shuts me out. I sit. I watch the surfers who I think are so brave. I have wind surfed but never was a surfer. I am not from the West Coast. Happy to have lived here since I was nineteen.
Peaceful Place. Never fails me. Never asks anything of me. Drops me deep into being here now. I take photos of life at the beach and the flowers and bridges on the way. There is a bench planted in the sand and another one on the trail in memory of a loved one. I love that. The trees are huge.
The dogs, strollers, backpacks, and folding chairs all pass down this trail that ends at the ocean. FREE I get to be there for FREE.
Where is your peaceful place. What does it do for you? If you don’t have one, go find a place on this earth that lifts you and effortlessly fills you with wonder. A place where you are reminded of who you really are, verses who you think you should be, could be, need to be.
I don’t think much when I walk the beach. Beauty gets me quiet, carries me,
opens me to play, and smile. That is more than good enough for me.
I have memories of walking there with my daughter. We try to drive there when she comes to visit. I pop here a photo, “Do you remember this place and your playing in the water in your blue overalls?” It makes her happy to be transported back there. Makes me happy to share the memory.
Every time, this peaceful place, surprises me. Memories wash in and new ones imprint, like those sandpipers whose little feet mark the sand until the water takes them to an unseen place.
Share where you find peace. You can email me, natalie@emptynestsupport.com
Take care, Natalie
Natalie Caine, M.A. natalie@lifeintransition.org
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