~ Sea Harmony ~

On the Outer Banks of North Carolina there is this beach we know...We call it "Sea Glass Beach" because we have found some of our most beautiful sea glass pieces here including our only two pieces of purple. We could very well call this beach by many different names as it is a multi-faceted beach but yet so well intertwined in the most perfect way. As a beach should be...

For the most part it appears to be a secluded beach as we very seldom see any other people there. You can walk in either direction ~for hours~and never see another human being, but neither desolate or deserted is it ever. This beach appears to be in sync and in harmony with the world that seems to appear mostly just in mind. We know that when we cross over the dunes that we are the intruders here. For the many times that we have been there though I think that this beach is beginning to include us in that harmony as it now speaks to us as we stroll along. We are as one and at peace with this beach.

On a recent visit here I fully realized that. This particular stroll brought to me the most peace ever in my life. It was as if I could finally slow down to go with its pace, my eyes were suddenly opened and I seen things so much more plainly--simple things that had been there all along. I heard many whispers, gathered many secrets, and rejoiced in many revelations. I was one with this beach and was one with all of life. The birds spoke with me as if I was one of them ~and I understood. The waves caressed me and I felt loved. The sand made sculptures as the wind caressed it and natures most finest art was on display. Everything was here, everything was now. This was the moment.

When we first came over the dunes my breath was instantly taken as it seemed as if I was seeing, for the first time, the miles of white capped rollers lulling up on the beach. Perhaps it WAS really my FIRST time of SEEING. And I FELT it. The next thing that was really striking to me was the large, very large, flotilla of brown pelicans with more joining them as we watched. I was mesmerized by the busyness of this flock. After the last one landed, the first one took flight and one after another they all followed suit creating a long line of wave skimmers. The line undulated as the waves rose, rolled, and fell. The pelicans were thoroughly enjoying the ride and were totally synchronized with one another. All in harmony.

As we walked down the beach I got caught up in the great numbers of sanderlings that were scurrying along. The whole length of our walk were sanderlings by our side. Keeping us company and keeping in time to the rythyms that were here--all heart. These are the kind of wave runners that I like! They are energetic busy bodies. They are highly driven at everything they do. Even at going to take a nap. We watched a flock scurry quickly up the beach, congregate and lie in a close knit circle--facing the wind...always. Restless they were or wanted a new view as one by one each bird would get up only to walk a few steps forward to settle in front of the next bird--on and on the sanderling shuffle went and the napping congregation itself was walking as a whole. Do they ever truly rest? True beach combers they are and my mind goes as fast as their legs go as I wonder about the beaches they have covered.

This beach and all of its completeness totally enveloped me on this day. And with each new step my eyes, my heart, and my soul opened up and welcomed the completeness, vitality, and life that this environment was lending me. And just when I thought all was complete, here came another facet of the beach. At a distance I could see a big black flock of flight coming nearer and nearer to shore. The immensity of this flight was incredible. Cormorants...hundreds and hundreds of cormorants...a pelican for its leader and two pelicans for the tail end charlies. Cormorants...a common enough bird--but put them into a flight this thick and out over an ever-wandering, ever life-giving ocean and you get a whole new wonder for them! The beauty was in numbers and the not knowing from what never-land they just came from and which one they were going too.

Terns zipped by and over in scattered numbers. Their voices lent to the wildness of ocean life and beauty. This is how its supposed to sound...Ruddy turnstones wandered by and willets casually meandered. Black bellied plovers were present also. This place is well known to the birds also...here they find peace.

This beach spoke volumes with me that day. It showed me what was right and what was real. I FELT it---I felt the harmony. It showed me how life should be~uncomplicated, beautiful, and all in harmony. There was a full circle here--there is no doubt. No need too. The sheer numbers of life here told the whole story. This was by no means a desolate beach--quite the opposite. It is a beach of life! I hope nature will always have its spaces and places like this for lifes sake!