The day started out hopeful. It was a breath-releasing morning at the beach. It definitely felt like a Monday and a new start to the week. The busyness of the weekend had a full stop after it, like the end of a sentence, and this beautiful new morning seemed to be starting a new paragraph, the slate wiped clean.
The beach was wide and welcoming as Opal and I headed north. The tide was low enough, and the shoreline sandy enough, to walk past Pots and Kettles, past the next headland, before the boulders hindered passage. I love being able to travel this direction. There are less people, less dogs; yet more crabs for Opal. Today, though, the birds stopped us. I have a healthy respect for their circling and calling and if they are in numbers large enough to be noisy I tend to stop and reassess my path. Opal remained oblivious, happy in her seafood scavenger hunt. I stood for a few minutes wondering what we had disrupted. I felt uncomfortable pushing on so took my cue from them and headed back the way we had come.
It was warm, even that early in the day. When we got back to the Mansion cut I set my stuff aside on a log and wandered into the ocean. Opal followed me out, right up until a wave came. She rode it back to shore and paced while I walked out further. I didn’t stay in for long but it sure refreshed my body, mind, soul.
The day got hotter and my mood cooler. I wish there was a way, a better way, to hold onto the joy throughout the day of my early morning jaunts with Opal. Maybe that’s the gift of being present: we are where we are when we are. Time is an illusion and all we’ve got is right now.
Today that is enough.
Hard sometimes NOT to flush hopes and dreams, but you are working very hard at not doing any extra flushing. Good for you! Have a great day. Stay cool.