On the other hand...

Flip flops are brilliant things! They are wonderful in the sand on the beach. Oh, how my toes want the beach. I love to sink my whole foot in the sand, just let only the top of my foot peep out from the sand. I can feel mother nature on the beach like no where else I've ever been. 

When I was homeless for a brief time a few summers ago, we ended up on the beach in MS. It was marvelous. It was a beach where we could spend the night. Yes, to spend the night on a beach in the salty air is my kind of heaven. I didn't need fancy digs to go back to. All I needed was the beach and an ocean breeze to cool me. I needed nothing else. I was free. I could watch people walk every day on the beach and see they felt the same way I did.

These people would come daily to walk and they had smiles on their faces. Look around you and see how many people are smiling where you are? I'm not talking about the people who visit the beaches. They are a different breed of people. Those are the people who carry tons of stuff to the beach. The poor husbands are left to lug wagon loads of toys, towels, umbrellas, sunscreen, boats, paddles, games, food, drinks, and anything else the wife thinks might be important for them to have at their day on the beach. I'm not talking about them. I am talking about the people who make it with only 1 bag with a towel and their flip flops and their keys. They don't bring their cell phones and sit there playing on the phone. They play on the beach. 

While there I saw more sights and sounds and smells that I will never forget. I heard the bells of the fishing ships in the early morning dawn. Ding, ding, ding! It made me smile. 

I saw horses being ridden on the beach. The sand flying up from the horse hooves that ran across the sand. The horsetails flaring behind the horse and rider. The sight was breathtaking. 

There was a woman that was so beautiful that I thought she must be some kind of spiritual being. She seemed to be wrapped up in the arms of the ocean and allowing it to show the ocean's magnificence through her own display. She was alone and walking in a flowing dress of red. She'd kind of run a little while holding onto her glasses. She had a hat but swept it off and her hair fell in darkness around her shoulders. She was extraordinary!

I saw my sons playing on the beach. Even though we had made coffee and tea on the dashboard in our water bottles, they were happier than I've ever seen them. Even though we had none of those toys that other kids had, we were all blessed. We needed the ocean. We needed that place. It was home. I remember driving to this beach at about 1 in the morning. There were no lights on this beach where we were at the moment, but I could hear it. I could smell it. I could feel the sensation of the beach atmosphere. I stated "I am home." I want that peace again. I want to feel completely at home in a place to the point that I want nothing else! I want to wake up every day and think how lucky I am to be so close to the beach. I want to feel the stress of the day wash off my shoulders as I slip out of my flip flops and into the waves that caress my feet in welcome.

So, just maybe, I should do beach stuff. Maybe that is where I am supposed to be. Maybe that is where my heart is calling me...to the beach. 

Peace and Love,

Tela