As I write this I have 3 days left here on the central coast
of NC.As with all sojourns the
time has passed very quickly.It
has been an amazing spring on the shore.
Living in a seasonal community is very different from
the urban environments I've inhabited for the last 12 years!It's so much less stressful...
Lessons from the Beach:
This
area is called The Crystal Coast and they say you can find interesting crystals
everywhere - haven't found any - I suspect this is the coastal version of a Snipe Hunt....
If you are a
16 - 24 yr old female and wear a really skimpy yellow polka dot bikini, and
then go jump in the large waves you can expect to emerge with a serious
wardrobe malfunction! If you are a 5
- 10 yr old boy and insist on falling down under the waves as they crash you
can expect to emerge with your swim trunks loaded with a huge ball of really
itchy, scratchy sand! And all the
grownups will laugh..
The best
workout is walking several miles with the wind at your back on the hard-packed
sand at the water's edge followed by trudging back into a 13mph "breeze" in the
soft stuff up near the dunes - takes 3x as long and must burn 6x the
calories!
And lastly, if you are a 71 yr old man who kite-boards, you
have this writer's utmost respect and I wish I'd had my video cam with me. He
was teaching his grandson!
It's been great fun and I hope the sunshine will arrive in
Western NY when I do...
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INTERLUDES
It's been interesting to be in a situation where no one knew me
nor I them.When you have no
history, no background, and no baggage to influence your approach to each other
you learn a lot.
I'm not shy or self-conscious and know that starting a
conversation is as easy as asking a question, so my "game" was that I had come
here for 3 months because I had always wanted to try life on the seashore.Then I would ask what they liked best
about it, or how they got here.
I discovered very quickly that almost everyone was from somewhere
else, and had thoughtful answers for why they decided to settle in this
particular part of the country.
As I heard their answers and stories, a lot of ideas were
stirred up in my own mind.
How many older folks are choosing to relocate intentionally?What are the factors that make them
choose one place over another?What does it mean to migrate to a place without long-time friends and
family?
An AARP survey 10 years ago indicated that 80% of their
members want to live out their lives in the home they are in.For most, that would mean never
experiencing another climate, another group of people or a lifestyle different
from the one they know.Many
of the people I know at home would agree.Not me.
My Dad says I have my maternal grandmother's traits. She and
my grandfather gave up their house back in the 60's and traveled the country in
one of those silver air-stream trailers for several years.I'm glad to know that I come by my
exploring nature honestly.I love
that it allows me to be curious and to constantly keep learning.
As a result of this journey, I've gotten to know a little
about the lifestyle of some groups of people I've not encountered before:
career military families both active and retired;
off-shore fishermen who are away from home for weeks on end;
boat owners who pull up the anchor and spend much of the year living on the
ocean;
artists and writers who
choose the solitude of tiny villages on the ocean's edge miles from everything.
I've also experienced a self-enforced simplified life.Except for my office desk and chair, there is virtually
nothing in that storage unit back in PA that I have needed or wanted.I would prefer to be in my own place with my own choice of
furniture, but I now know that it doesn't have to be big or filled with
"stuff."
I've learned that a temporary change of scenery provides a
lot of quiet time to be in your own head.I spend several hours on the beach every day letting the sound of the
surf drown out the rest of the world.Given some time, you really can clear the cobwebs out and hear your own
heart and voice rather than everyone else's. A week's
vacation will not do it - I recommend at least a month J
So, like the picture of the interrupted tire tracks on the
sand, I did let the ocean wash away some the ruts for a short time.I will resume part of my previous life
for the summer with new understanding of what's really important to me.There will be changes.....
but all that stuff is going to stay in storage for a while
longer!
CREATIVITY PROJECT
Thanks to a new friend I was able to join a women's
Creativity Circle during my time here.Mardi is a collage artist who gladly shares her enthusiasm for creativity
in everyday life with those around her.
Our project for the last session was to create a pictorial
representation of this quote from Rumer Godden -
"There
is an Indian proverb that says that everyone is a house with four rooms, a
physical, a mental, an emotional, and a spiritual. Most of us tend to live in
one room most of the time but unless we go into every room every day, even if
only to keep it aired, we are not a complete person."
The first step is to brainstorm
the words that you associate with each of the rooms - Spirit, Emotion, Mind and Body.Then draw or cut out symbols and
pictures that also fit.As we
painted, pasted and drew our houses of
life, we shared stories or
experiences that came to mind in conversation with each other.
This particular group varies in
age from a young mother to several grandmothers and represents many walks of
life and several parts of the country.Yet, as we spoke we found commonalities and shared hopes and
dreams.
Even if you don't think of
yourself as an artist, this is the sort of creative project that is easy to do
and allows you to spend a couple of hours thinking about the priorities and
values of your life.Give it
a try....a piece of paper, some colored pencils or markers and a glue stick are
all you really need.
Then spend some time thinking about which rooms you avoid and how you can enter them daily.
A Little Inspiration
We know that simplicity is within our grasp.But simplicity is not simple to get to
sometimes.Most people have
forgotten how to get away from it all.
Simplicity is a process.It's a kind of surrender.It's a forgetting of the rules we never liked much anyway,
of the values that have no real value, of the goals that never made much sense.
And it's a remembering....of how fulfilling a day of
nothing can be, of how magical quiet can be...... how easy it is to be
uplifted.
These are excerpts from a lovely
little book called How to Live at the
Beach by Sandy Gingras. She manages to express every single emotion I have
felt in the last three months along with charming illustrations.Despite my resolution to not buy any
physical books this year, I had to have this one! It's tucked into the glove compartment.....
My e-mail box is always open if you just need to chat...
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