Those Things
Beautiful morning once again today. Things look a lot like yesterday and yesterday things looked great. I’m out the door a little after 9:00 and Catalina comes into clear view not long after that. It’s not a bad thing at all to have Catalina in your sights. I’ve been itching to take some kind of mini vacation lately and I’m thinking Catalina might be the perfect spot.
I roll into the parking lot and the water looks calm and smooth. I admit that I am thinking just a little more about the impending cold water today - much more so than I was yesterday. This is probably because it’s colder this morning.
When I reach the shore, there is not all that much of a shore. We are just beginning to come down from a 6.0 high tide. There is very little surf but the little shore break is not quite as little as it was yesterday. Everything looks absolutely beautiful - crisp and blue. The sun looks like it is just tumbling down the bluff at the south end of the beach. It’s all misty and hazy and enchanting.
I get in the water and it’s so clear here in the shallows. It’s pretty clear further out as well. Due to the high tide, it does not take long before I am chest deep. I begin to swim south. The water temperature is very similar to yesterday. It might be the same but it is definitely not warmer. Still, I’m not complaining…ok maybe just a little…but I feel good and am super happy to be here.
The entire swim is absolutely lovely. Everything here just feels fresh and clean and I sense the ocean washing away the muck that has collected in my insides. The clear water is so blue and pure and the kelp leaves act like those long strips of fabric you find in car washes as I swim through them.
Clouds collect here and there. There is a cluster over the headlands hiding the sun and adding a bit of shade to the surface of the water but it is still bright and blue and I look north and see the lifeguard tower standing strong and bright white and beckoning me to come hither. I’m on my way.
I purposefully did not play the piano before leaving today because I just don’t feel like having music in my head today. For some reason I find that I prefer silence today. I just want to watch the sun and sky and water and feel the coolness on my skin and that kelp brushing my belly. I don’t want anything distracting me from those things. Those things have something to say to me. They tell me to just keep swimming and see what I see and hear what I hear and feel what I feel. Those things tell me that is how life happens. It happens as it happens and not as we think about how it happens.
Everything is constantly happening all at once as we see and experience it in front of and around and through our bodies. The ocean invites me to participate and not be a spectator.
