I sat on the beach and thought about how much I'd love to live on the ocean. How much I'd love to hear the crashing waves as the backdrop for my life. But it would be so different from the life I've known. I'm not sure I can really fathom what it would be like to trade farms and fields for flat, coastal terrain. I'd trade cardinals and crows for seagulls and pelicans. It would mean living on the edge of the world instead of right in the middle of it all.
When I stand on the beach and stare at the ocean, I feel like I have my back to the world, and live on the cusp of being a landlubber and seafarer. My mother takes the opposite perspective; that we're standing on the edge of those vast endless seas. What would it be like to have the sea be such a dominant force in your life? To pay attention to tide schedules and storm patterns? Wouldn't your life have something to do with boats, or fish or the bounty of the sea in some way? Would you feel salt on your skin all the time?
I think you'd have to be okay with being a little bit lonely if you lived on the sea. Or maybe that's just me, because I'd have my back to the world.
So beautiful! I grew up around forests and rolling mountains. So, the sea signifies vacation or a time away for me. And as much as I love going to sleep by the sound of crashing waves, I feel most at home among trees.
ReplyDeleteCatherine Denton
I would love to live by/on water. There's something incredibly soothing about the sound and the air to me. And the fact that so many people feel that way makes me wonder if it's not part of our core.
ReplyDeleteThank you both for your provocative comments. Like you, Catherine, I also feel at home among trees. But like Kristan, I believe there's something at the core of us that yearns to be near the water. Maybe someday I'll find out what it's like to live on the ocean. I think I'd love it.
ReplyDeleteWe live within walking distance of the Pacific ocean and beach. I've lived in Carpinteria, California (on the central coast of California) for the past 14 years with my husband and love it here. I couldn't imagine not living close to the ocean/beach. The weather is never too cold or too hot.
ReplyDeleteWe're also lucky to have a Harbor Seal Rookery within our community that is protected. Each year momma Harbor Seals come to the same beach to give birth and rear their pups for 6 months. It's fun to go to the bluffs that overlook the beach and see the mommies with their babies on the beach below.
Captivated Reader - I want to live with you! LUCKY!!!!!!
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