I'm a beach walker......I walk aimlessly for miles and miles. Walk might be too energetic a word. Stroll, mosey, meandering may be more like it. I go at the pace of a loggerhead turtle (which once again, I didn't see)---maybe slower.
No one really wants to go with me, which is really OK. Pre-walk conversations go something like this...
: where are you going? to the beach.
: no WHERE??? no where
: what are you looking for? nothing/anything
: when are you coming home? sometime
What is the draw? The sound of the tides? The birds? The shells? The peacefulness? The alone-time? Don't know. It doesn't matter. I do love how the beach changes every day...yet stays the same. Some mornings there are zillions of huge pieces of sand dollars--the next day, not a piece to be found---yet, there is the whole one! Most days, the pelicans entertain with their aerial diving; one day they just flew by and didn't give us a second look.
This morning I was going to "sleep in"--and I did. I wasn't on the beach until 6:10. That was late. All day, I'm going to wonder what I missed. Were the dolphins up early? I probably missed the shrimp boats going out for the day. I missed the sunrise. But maybe I'll be there for the sunset.
And the treasures just waiting to be found....NC beach isn't a shell seeker's delight, but it's still fun finding sea urchins, assorted clams, baby ears, olives, slippers, oysters, mussels, augers, jingles, coquinas, limpet, moon, periwinkles, angelwings, sea glass, sand dollars, and one H-U-G-E conch (found by JR, not me!). Pieces of bonnets, tulip, pens, and giant tun.
Pelican feathers, crab carapace and claws, shark teeth, and a lost egg (not turtle) swirling in the surf--all there for those who are looking.
But if there is nothing to be found....it's still a good day.
It's the journey....the process....that I love; the destination is the bonus.
Just like knitting.
