Wednesday, June 08, 2005

Gifts from the Sea (and other lesser known places...)

Over the last two days, I have been given many gifts 'from the sea,' to steal a line from Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Actually, let's start with her, because she was an original point of inspiration for me 'dreaming big' and believing that a kid who grew up in Capitol Heights (what is now refered to as 'the hood' in more ways than one) could one day through luck and pluck, have her very own place by the sea.

Having read many years ago AML's BIG little tome, Gift from the Sea, I ached to have a place of my own some day where I could truly let go and drink in the tonic dispensed at the ocean's edge. As a Pisces, water is my 'element,' and I am never more calm, cleansed, comforted or healed than when I am can hear the pounding surf, taste and smell the salt and sea scents of the ocean, feel the coolness of the wet sand between my toes and the warmth of sunbleached wood on my bare feet.

The ocean has also been my teacher, my confessor, my therapist and my direct line to God. Many times have I have prostrated myself face down and cried an ocean of tears into the sand when heartbroken, gazed upward and puzzled over life's mysteries, and let the fierce sound of the waves erase the monkey-mind of worries in my hot brain.

So I am embarrassed to admit that although I have been living now two weeks here at the shore, it took the invite of a friend who also has a place on the beach to actually get me to water's edge! If you lead this horse to water, I will drink! That was gift number ONE this week!

What has stolen my time thusfar from my rendezvous with the sea, you might ask? Hey, I been busy settling in and unpacking and managing a major lawn landscaping and deck laying operation. What a load of crappo! As my friend Alice might have said, "Get thee to the beach, CrazyLady!"



Speaking of Alice, she is directly responsible for the second gift I received this week. ALice is a BIGTRAINDC specialty beverage Queen, managing outfits all over the eastern seaboard and midatlantic region who sell and distribute their line of upscale chai and cocoa and coffee and other yuppy frothy caffeine drinks. And they are all scrumptious. I know this because yesterday, she gifted me WITH A HUGE PERSONAL ASSORTMENT gift basket teeming with tempting tea-like tasty tantalizing tummy warmers. And I've never laid eyes (or anything else!) on Alice! She's a dame of the highest ilk!

Gift #3 came with a knock on my back door yesterday, when Bev, my neighbor and new friend, surprised me with a quart of 'just picked' local strawberries, still warm from the sun and smelling like a tiny slice of Heaven! Bev and her delightful husband Byron have pretty much adopted me since I arrived for good here in Hunters Run, my new 'hood! They have extended every act of kindness and generosity and warm friendship imaginable, which reinforces my firm belief that I am truly living in a state of grace these days.

And the gifts just kept on coming. Craig, the hunky local handyman good looking enough to be a regular on 'Desperate Housewives,' arrived yesterday to install the walkway off my back deck that will allow me to proceed from the house, even on the wettest days, without submerging my feet or the dogs' into soggy wet grass and mud to take our daily constitutionals. Terry Hatcher I'm not, but oh, if I were!

I also traded emails and phone calls with many new friends and old friends and angels yesterday whose very existence enriches my life every day.

The lessons I learned this week that I would invite anyone to share, are these:

  • take at least an hour today or tomorrow and do something for yourself that inspires, enriches, comforts and fills you.
  • take at least an hour today or tomorrow and do a kindness or service UNASKED for someone who needs a lift.
  • spread the wealth by asking someone in your circle to join you in these joyous works.
  • take a moment today and give thanks that you can do these things effortlessly.

These are gifts we can share.

PEACE.

-- HeartSleeve