"Watching The Tide Go Out..."

There have been many moments where I have found myself just watching the tide slowly go out... While beach hiking, searching for cobblestones, and especially at the end of sea kayak trips out there. This time is so special... It allows for gently reflecting on the adventure days and nights just passed... For remembering the many preparations over how we get there, the visualization and all the efforts to journey to this point in time... For pondering the challenges offered to me, many accepted, some not this last days... For just musing over each of these moments, especially the unexpected ones, like the range of emotions the wild places affords each of us...

Then I just pause and quietly watch the ebb and flow of the tide and waves easing in and drifting back out...

I muse over what wonders I have seen... they are always there, I just need to open my eyes a bit more. These moments are for pondering too about why I came again, even when the elements may not have been agreeable.

I remember... sitting just so and thinking about all the seasons, the years gone by... the special times shared, the intense solo experiences, the many sea shores...

I remember... those feelings of excitement before a challenge, at times the anxiety during the course of some adventures, the sense of completion and accomplishment and even a bit of relief sometimes...

This is a time especially for reflecting upon that sense of contentment after those special goals, within that tiredness from well earned efforts, and the price of admission agreed upon and paid out there...

When quietly watching the tide ebb away I experience again the joy of seeing the sun glinting as jewels thrown upon the water as I have posted about before. The waves can be so meditative with their gentle mantra moving slowly across the sand and rocks...

You may see many things on a beach that couldn't be seen before as the tide ebbs away... just as we may now see with new eyes after very challenging adventure experiences.

And that is a lot to get out of the simple observation of the ebb and flow of our lives out there...

So, after these challenging days back here and those of island kayak adventuring out there, I am just watching the tide go out and sharing the moment with you.....

DSD