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| By the Saturday Sea |
Today at about 6:45am I accepted the invitation from a
dolphin to get closer to the sea. I was
out with Riley, after she had her breakfast when I heard the splash. I quickly glanced in the direction of the sound and saw the
back half of the dolphin’s slick body enter the water. I rushed to the top of
the stairs leading to the waters edge and spotted two dolphins swimming away
from the area right in front of my sister’s house.
I wanted badly to employ my imaginary super powers so I could follow them as they swam out across the
open bay. I only saw them 2 more times, barely.
Everything happened quickly. My
eyes like the shutter of a camera, capturing fractures of seconds and they were
gone. They swam slow and confident on the way to other coves, perhaps more
invitations to deliver.
My immediate Girl Scout reaction, maybe they will come back,
maybe there are more coming this way. I
had to position myself and without much thought I accepted the invitation and
brought Riley along. I quickly moved the camping hammock as close to the water
as I could and for 2 hours I held my post.
Part sentry, part dreamer, part young child, I enjoyed the
silence and solitude by the sea. Riley quietly observed the world from the
vantage point of my chest, at times she would shift and lay on my legs. I kept looking, hoping, dreaming and
sometimes imagining dolphins. Several times I confused the crest of a wind gust
with the shape of a dolphin; I wanted them to come back so I waited and
waited. My imagination hurried and slowed
and then finally gave way to being still.
The sea was a gracious host and every minute stretched. I purposely joined nature’s cadence and
inhaled deep and with desire. I wanted to taste the salt in my lungs. The waiting turned into quiet observations, I tried to gulp,
inhale and see as much of this salty womb as possible. The rapture of the
incessant roll gently coming over the last set of steps right below me,
the best opiate I could consume.
I positioned the hammock so the sun was not in my eyes, I
lay parallel to the water’s edge and I was quiet. I was pensive. A few times I got tears in my eyes. I talked
to Riley and reassured her that her parents were coming home. I thanked God for
making the ocean and including dolphins in the grand design. I thought about my Mother. I wondered if she would have been a
Republican or a Democrat ?
I tried to quiet my mind and simply inhabit the hammock. A
few times I smiled in my head at my camping get up: a red t-shirt, my blue
Nautica pajama bottoms complementing 10 dark blue toe-nails. My always red Clark sandals close by waiting
patiently for the reverie to end. And it
did.
The sun by 9am a bit warm, reminding me that this day
continues and that the dolphin’s visit was brief, yet grand.
I was honored to
be invited !
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| A happy Riley ! |
