Leave Me by the Sea
(I’m making the executive decision to push Word Nerd Wednesday to next week in favor of sharing pics from my vacation last week.)
I love the beach. I don’t just mean, “Why yes, it is a rather lovely vacation spot.” I mean I love the beach. I’ve been told by the human who knows me best that no one loves the beach as much as I do. Which is both happy and sad. (Happy: I win! Sad: what is wrong with everyone else??)
Once a year, my human and I try to spend some time at the beach so that my soul doesn’t shrivel and die. (You think I’m being dramatic. I am not.) I have to see it. At least once a year, I have to see it, and the moment we arrive, I fly out of the car and down to the water to say hello. Everything else can wait.
There’s simply no place on earth where I am more at home than on a North Carolina beach. With my feet in the water, staring out at the ever-shifting waves, I feel like I can fully breathe, like every inch of me is at complete peace, resonating perfectly with the rhythm of the waves.
I love how much the water changes, from blue to green to gray, the way the fading sunlight stains the breaking edges pink. It’s never the same, from one day to the next, from one second to the next.
And on most NC beaches, you get the bonus of lovely views west across the sounds or waterways, including gorgeous sunsets.
Even my hair is happier at the beach. Who cares if it’s tangled, it smells like the salt air.
And just when I think the ocean couldn’t get more beautiful, a storm rolls in, providing the most dramatic views.
We were even gifted with a late night storm, lightning streaking across the water, brilliant flashes against inky darkness. Whether it’s sunny or stormy or cloudy, the ocean never fails to be beautiful and dynamic.
No matter what happens in my life—the good, the bad, everything in-between—I always know I’ll find my peace by the ocean.
When I am gone,
and am no more,
rest me here
upon this shore.
Release me
unto the sea,
and know I’ll be
forever free.