If you look to the right of the photo, you can see my footprints. I thought I’d walk a bit to meet my maker, but I didn’t find anything or anyone. I’ve been told that the stark and lonely and beautiful parts of nature contain the maker, but I saw nothing. There was just this beach. And the sunshine. And the clouds. I went as far as I could on the sandbar and then came back before the tide came in. I never saw a soul. The tide came in anyway.
 |
| Searching . . . |
But I wasn’t alone.
The seagulls were still busy all around me, doing the things that
seagulls do. Diving, scrounging, but
mainly making a lot of noise. Still,
when they glide in the air, they seem like perfect and weightless wisps of
life, effortless. I saw a horse off in
the distance, and I’m assuming his owner was somewhere nearby, although I never
saw anyone. An occasional seal bobbed
his head up just for a second. You have
to be quick and steady to catch the seals because they don’t stay up long. They go under just as quickly as they came
up, back to a hidden world I can’t see.
The receding waves brought in dozens and dozens of sand
dollars, and I collected quite a few. Each
one is unique. They are so outstandingly
beautiful. And, of course, there were also
countless beautiful shells. Some were opalescent
and shiny, shimmering in the cold sunshine.
Some had the secret spirals carved upon them, as I’ve mentioned in
previous journal entries--the mysterious golden ratio. And the sand glimmered in the sun, almost
hurting my eyes, reminding me of diamonds when they hit the light in just that
certain way.
The air was so fresh, but it always is at the beach. It had that calming quality to it, the one
where your thoughts just sort of work themselves out and then go away
completely. There was the sound of the
waves starting to come back. They were
in the background, behind the fresh scent.
It was a continuous and perfect rhythm, and each wave grew the slightest
bit louder than the one before it. In
another few hours they’ll reach an apex and then fade again, perfectly, as
always.
The afternoon slowly ticked by. I stopped thinking as much after having some
of that fresh and vibrant air. My
thoughts seemed stale in comparison anyhow.
It was enough just to walk and be.
Eventually, I forgot why I came to the beach altogether, although I was
glad I’d come. I found my way back to my
car and went back home. I looked in the
rearview mirror as I left. It reminded
me to return so that I could search for something I left there, but I couldn’t
remember what it was. I’ll go back again
soon, though, and look for it just the same.
