being quiet

I love this time of year. I am fortunate enough to live close to the ocean and this time of year all of the townies go home and I get the beach all to myself. I drink it up like water. This past Saturday I woke up really, really wanting to go for a nice long walk on the beach. When I looked out the window I saw that it was raining. Pouring really. This is the west coast so to notice that it's raining, maybe even raining so much that you need to stay inside requires a serious amount of water. I decided to go anyway.

I had a new pair of Saloman hiking shoes (yay for 50% off sales) and a Goretex jacket. It wasn't raining in my world.

I was just about the only person down on the beach and it was the kind of experience that literally stops you in your tracks and begs you to pay attention. At one point I stopped down by the water and took off my hood so I could hear better. It was incredible -- if I listened carefully I could actually hear the difference between the sound of the rain hitting the ocean and the sound of the rain hitting the rocks on the beach. I could hear the gulls calling out to each other and the lapping sound of the tide making its pilgrimage back to dry land. I remember just standing there and thinking "it's so quiet" and then laughing, because really, it wasn't quiet at all, there were sounds everywhere.

I stood there, just standing, just breathing, just listening and just loving it. And I thought "I need this". Thinking about it now it almost as if the silence and the sounds together and the peace of the place were like soul manna -- falling just when I needed it. Nourishing like food, replenishing like water.

I kept my hood off as I walked back to my car, smiling at the few others who dared not miss so lovely a day. I chuckled at the old man who smiled at me and said "I hope you don't catch a cold". I didn't realize what he was laughing at until I got in my car and saw how thoroughly soaked I was.

I hadn't even noticed I was wet.