the beach

Friends asked me about the possibility of a Glentana cave camp. I gave them some possible dates coinciding with spring tide, and asked them to let me know when would suit them best. We've just returned home this afternoon, after camping saturday and sunday night there (today is a public holiday).

We had low sand and rough seas, and a hard trek there and back, and some rainy weather sunday afternoon, but the rest of it was even better! ... Beautiful weather otherwise -- even today, when it was forecast to be overcast.

...But yesterday, later afternoon, we sat down to watch the weather change. It was a quick and relatively drastic change, compared to the pleasant weather of the morning. ...And I sat there for easily an hour, but probably two, perhaps even more, at our previous high-tide mark, and waited to see what the water would do.

...And, as I gazed out to sea, and watched the enormous breakers crash and thunder incessantly, I thought how unexpectedly such turbulence can facilitate such calm, and such peace, and such utter, utter contentment within my soul... We discussed this for a bit, and theorised that, perhaps, it might be because we're sitting up and looking out towards the horizon again, for a change, reacquainting ourselves with a broader perspective on the bigger picture, in stead of sitting hunched over and looking down, here inside the office, onto our desks, all the time. ... However, then we realised that gazing down, here inside the cave, at the camp fire ... is strangely paradoxical... and we gave up trying to figure things out, instead choosing to enjoy the moment as merely and simply as it was.

Also, as I sat there, thinking and wondering and philosophising about these things, I thought about all the people on the beach walking back and forth to come and leave behind, somewhere along their wanderings, what they do not want and/or need tomorrow anymore...

...And as I thought, I realised, like I haven't realised in a very long time, that, over the past hour or two, there had grown within me that all too familiar urge again, from so long ago, to write and put my thoughts and realisations down on paper as I haven't done in a very long time... (This here is not like that realisation and urge... it is merely reporting what had occurred.)

*

{I also thought again, over the course of the weekend, how life is like hiking (and hiking is like life). For us, this weekend, we wanted some peace and quiet, away from all the countless crazy crowds and their ten thousand things, as well as a bit of adventure and fun, and we started planning a long time beforehand, communicating back and forth, considering various options, and ultimately settling on the sacrifices we were willing to make in order to actualise our plan for reaching our goal. Example: carry more and heavier, working harder, hiking slower, resting often, in order to be safer and more comfortable in certain respects in the end. It's about compromise and balance. ...But mostly it's about determining what you want, and figuring out how you're going to get there, and what you're going to leave behind, and what you're going to take in order to make it happen. ...And this determination and realisation does not necessarily happen overnight. For us, it was a good while in coming... but oh, so very much worth it every step of the way. ... I also thought about having to come back at the end of the weekend... and how that might fit into my lovely little metaphor (or not)... and realised that, sometimes, in life, we don't have to.

...ever go back to where we were before.}

*

Anyway, this is what I had to write:

the tide washes away

the back-and-forth drama of the day

leaving only what has always been there

at the start of each tomorrow

the beach