The Baby Bjorn Club

The sun is out at dawn again today and there is no question that I will be swimming. It truly feels like summer this morning and I am out the door by 8:30.

As I head down the stairs towards the beach, a woman is carrying her baby in one of those front carrying baby bjorn contraptions. I used these myself with all three of my kids and they are amazing. So I just say to her, “those baby bjorns are a life saver.” She looks at me with this smile and I forget exactly what she said but it was an emphatic acknowledgement of the fundamental truism that I just uttered. Now this all gives me pause because yesterday the exact same interaction happened with a dad. He was making his way up the stairs with his baby in his baby bjorn and I said, “gotta love the baby bjorn.” He gave me almost the exact same response as this woman.

So I now find myself wishing that every day I could come across a different person using their baby bjorn and have the opportunity to repeat this interaction. I mean it’s so great. It’s super positive and good vibey and simple. Anyone who has used a baby bjorn knows how awesome they are and how they can add some amount of ease to an otherwise very difficult and strenuous job: parenting small children. It’s like we have all been admitted to a secret baby bjorn club that understands something very primal that you just could not possibly understand if you never used a baby bjorn. And the club has a lifetime membership.

I also find myself wondering what other ways can I introduce these kinds of interactions into my daily life. Despite the fact that I am an extreme introvert, I love interacting with people, usually total strangers, on the stairs or beach. They are almost always positive and I feel a connection with them because we are usually sharing our enjoyment of this environment. It is this wonderful energy exchange where my positive energy mixes with their positive energy and it all synergistically compounds. As I get close to the beach, I see a woman coming up who had obviously just been in the ocean. I say to her, was it as good as it looks (because it looks freaking good)? She looks at me with this lovely smile and very quietly and sweetly says, “it’s so good.” I love that. I feel my heart open in these little exchanges. I know the other person loves it to. They may not reflect on it like I do because they are probably a more normal and sane person than I am but I know from their smile that they experience some amount of joy.

Speaking of joy. Someone must have unloaded a whole tanker full of joy into the ocean earlier in the morning because one look at the water and it’s just covered with the stuff. I can see the rocks below the water in the inshore surf zone because the water is so clear. Just how soon can I get from here to that water? Pretty quickly it ends up.

Looking at the buoy data upon waking up this morning, it looks like everywhere is up a degree. Thank you heat wave. So I get in the water and it is nothing short of delightful. Part of me feels a little wimpy for feeling this way. I don’t know why. I seem to be the only one here without a wetsuit when the water is in the mid 50’s but I do know a couple people that just love the cold water and find warmer water just not nearly as satisfying. I am not that way. In my mind swimming above and below about 62 degrees are two completely different activities. I love both of them. But for me, below is just more challenging where as the warmer water is more joyful and relaxing. I really really like joyful and relaxing activities.

Yesterday, my 8th day in a row of swimming, I felt a little strained and I really don’t want to over do things and end up injuring myself today, my 9th day of swimming. However, I just can’t take the day off or even abbreviate the swim. The conditions are just too delightful. So I decide to try and swim a little more slowly. I’m not in a big hurry and it doesn’t take a genius to look around and decide longer is better on a day like today. I do just that and I think it works out.

You know, I’m not sure if I have ever enjoyed a swim quite like I did today. I have enjoyed every swim I have swam but today was indeed special. The water was warm and clear and the sun was shining and everything was just so beautiful. There were lots of fish and kelp and it was utterly lovely. It was just such a great day to lose oneself in the water.

I had this mantra repeating in my mind through the whole swim: Trust and Allow. Perhaps you are familiar with this mantra? It’s one I have been drawn to for several months now. I get all stressed over trying to “make things happen” in my life and sometimes I feel like I am swimming upstream as I impose my will upon fate which is going to be what it is going to be. In those moments of inner tension, sometimes this mantra enters into my head like grace. I have the realization that I just need to be open and provide some forward momentum and say yes to what comes my way. I’m not saying this is effortless. I know I need to participate and life seems to be filled with all sorts of challenges where we try to find where the boundary is between action and non-action. One thing I know is that action motivated by fear and desperation is usually not right action. But there is even more nuance here because right action can indeed be scary sometimes. Over time I think we begin to see patterns that differentiate varying colors of fears. There is a fear that we know we have to walk through…we just know. And there is a fear that says, “oh my god I am screwed if I don’t do this thing” even if it doesn’t feel like the right thing.

I swam north to the Monarch Bay Beach Club and back. That’s probably about a two mile swim and I felt great the whole way. After I finished I took a small walk down the beach because you just never know how many more of these beautiful mornings we are going to have.