Fear of the Unknown

Being out in the ocean you never know what you might encounter; the brush of a crab, the sight of a dolphin fins or the dive bombing pelican.  The later I witnessed safely from my place on the beach, with the rest of the family enjoying the brief turbulence  of the waves.  Periodically I would look up from my book just to make certain everyone was where they should be.  Glancing up I had to do a double take to make certain I was seeing what I thought I was seeing.  Sure enough a pelican came barreling down on them.  It looked close but I was told later it had only gotten within 5 feet.  Boy was I glad I was still on the beach.  My son recanted the exact wingspan which was 15 feet.  He's also 13 so most things in his life are extended or stretched.  My husband is puzzled as to where this characteristic comes from.  :0)

Now my 10 year-old has not developed that style of telling stories.  Usually she just tells you as it is, without embellishment. Which is why I did believe what she told me but wasn't really able to offer anything up besides, "It's the ocean.  Things are going to brush up against you."  I think if she could see what it was she would have felt better about it.  She was, in her words, "Lightly pinched by a crab." Being out there in the ocean with her didn't make her feel any better and she carefully and methodically made her way to the beach.  I felt bad but also it was a little funny.  She wasn't hurt and the pinchers left no mark except on her pride. Something got the best of her and she didn't like it. 


 Later, due to the crab incident, my daughter felt the need for me to Google "The daily life of a crab." She wanted to make certain that crab, or any other crab for that matter, would not invade her space tomorrow.  "Crabs only come out at night when the tide comes in." This satisfied her until the next morning.  

We got up, ate breakfast and headed to the boardwalk leading to our spot on the beach. There is a small pond by the entrance to the boardwalk and occasionally you can see a turtle's head pop up and small fish swimming around.  My son pointed out the turtles, several of them this time.  As my daughter bent over to take a closer look my son added,"Hey, there's a crab in there too!  A BIG blue one!"  My cover story was blown but it was all okay in the end.  Her enthusiasm for the surf overwhelmed her fear of the sea creatures.  All is good.

Meant to Be

I just realized, at that moment, that we were meant to be together.  Even the times when we haven't gotten along so well;  we still managed to make it through to the other side.  After all that we've been through,  we've still managed to find that comfortable place each time.  It comes with such ease. No thought.  We come together to share.  Easy. Easy like the choice between staying in your bed when you can, sleeping in when you can.  A knowing that when your head hits the soft pillow you just want to stay there.  Comfortable,  like a cup of tea first thing in the morning or right before you go to bed.    Like getting lost in a kiss or a touch.  It's surrendering to the moment. Surrendering to what is.

Trusting Your Instincts

I just got back from a very powerful workshop on trusting your intuition. How do we know when we should trust how we feel about a person or situation? Thinking of trust reminded be of the Angel Oak Tree in South Carolina. This was one place I wanted to go to go on our short trip. As a matter of fact I felt drawn to it and I'm ever so grateful we made the time to go. Angel Oak is reportedly over 1000 years old. Until visiting I didn't really know what it felt like to be 100% sure of something. The Angel Oak was strong, seemingly indestructible, and yet very comforting. My instincts that said I needed to go visit this magical place were correct. We either choose to trust our intuition or we do not. We make a decision at that point to either agree to continue in the direction we are headed or we decide to do something differently. How do we know we have made the right decision? There are many clues that help us along the way but we must choose to recognize and accept those gentle, and sometimes forceful, nudges we get. You know what is best for you but you cannot live your life solely by that. If you have been given hints along the way but chose to ignore them then that is your choice and you have chosen your path. It is yet another life lesson you need to learn. After tonight's workshop I got the message that I need to trust people less and investigate more. I investigate everything else. Why would I chose to accept everything someone tells me? If I did choose to investigate and the information was not what I expected, nor wanted, what would I do with this revelation? Maybe that is the issue for me. If the information was damaging to my impression of the person would I use that information or discard it? The information does not change but sometimes my perspective does. I need to open myself up for options. We should all learn to use the tools we have available to us. These tools help us make wise choices because these choices ultimately affect our life. These choices easily lead us down our path or lead us to another life lesson. Everyone has life lesson(s) and the sooner we learn them the easier life becomes. That is how we learn and grow and grow and grow.