Like Almost a Whisper
Late late night last night. It was fantastic, but that’s a completely different story to be published elsewhere if anywhere. So I skip meditation and journaling in lieu of some extra sleep this morning. As I look at the surf forecast and my schedule, I realize that I should take advantage of conditions and get in the water. Not to mention the fact that a swim will serve as acceptable substitution for not meditating.
It’s cloudy skies as usual as I leave for the beach a little before 9:30. The water looks smooth from the parking lot - as if someone decided to just add a coat of dark blue paint just below the sky. I walk down the stairs and sledgehammer dude is working out in his usual spot on the beach. We wave and I take my usual picture looking south and hope it’s not too weird that I am pointing my camera in his direction.
The water might feel a touch cooler today but it’s really not bad once I am well past the surf. There are some slightly warm spots here and there. I am swimming north even though I am on very limited free time. I just feel oddly compelled to swim in this direction and plan to maybe swim just short of the beach club to buy back some time.
I pass a couple of the jr. lifeguard buoys and swim far enough north of the closest one to get a decent shot of it and the point in the distance. I aim my camera and just as I press the button, I hear what sounds like almost a whisper to my right and I look over and it is a pair of pelicans flying just a few feet to my right. What I am hearing is the sound of their wings beating against the air. Serendipitously, the delay in the captured photograph manages to catch these magnificent creatures.
I feel like this is yet another metaphor for my life. I am here on this planet and I am immersed in beauty. I stare at the cliffs and buoys in the distance and it is all so fantastic. I am ready to call this memory done. What could I possibly want to add? Then something flies up from behind me so unimaginably beautiful and deserving of reverence. It whispers its presence in my ear as if to simply say, “I am here now.” I never asked for them to be in my memory, yet here they are. Before I thought it looked beautiful enough, but now it’s hard to find words.
I continue swimming and am blessed with two more amazing pelican encounters. Both differ from the first in that I could see them coming ahead of time. The third is particularly awesome. They are all a gift. This swim is a gift. The water, the beach, the horizon, every tree and bush on the cliffs - they are all a gift that fill my heart with joy and gratitude.
