The Pacific Joy

I long for the dampness that weighs heavy when I have a pressing and complex issue lying on my heart. I return to the beach. A place where the waves sing with sympathy and understanding. Where the sand welcomes me as it to say "I've missed you, welcome back". I draw in the sand, doodles that represent the turmoil of my mind. I hug my knees to my chest and I look out along that vast horizon. And suddenly my issue doesn't seem that big.

When triumph appears, I run to the beach, slide on that wetsuit and jump onto my board, letting the glistening sun blind me and the waves guide me. I feel the waves pump through me like the blood through my heart. I put my knee on my board and push down on the nose, duck diving through the crashing waves, feeling it's power wash over me. A Christening of the soul.

When tragedy strikes, the salt water soaks up my tears so that no one will notice. I inhale deeply and I smell the salt water like the first rain on the concrete. It fills my lungs and it pulsates through my heart and it fills me, completes me, makes me whole again, if only for a moment!

When I leave it pulls me back, it calls to me. It reminds me that one time when I was young it became a part of me in more ways than one. It reminds me that it will always be a part of me. It reminds me that no matter where I've been, where I am, or where I am going.... I will always come back to the Pacific Ocean, it's only a mere part of what gives me joy!