New Smyrna Beach Fl.
Sunny, breezy, wind out of the NW. Beautiful
It's been a hard week for Orlando. More than our share of senseless violence, and loss. This feeling of sadness has hung over my Utobia all week. I had previously planned a trip to the beach and now it was really needed. My hope was that some ocean breeze would help clear this fog that had settled in. As a guy with no kids, wife, or grown up stuff to do for the day, I made the plan to wake, bake, and take a long walk on that nice firm sand that low tide offers. You don't often see a lot of sad people on the beach and that was the scene I needed. There is something special that fellow beach walkers share first thing in the morning. That knowledge that this is special, and that we are blessed to have this experience while so many others are off to the grind. Walking down the beach I was feeling better with every step and my hope is that you know that feeling also. Approaching me from up the beach was a healthy looking couple in their 30's. They were just taking their time, looking at the shells and walking in and out of the tide pools. As she leaned over to pick up a shell I could see that she was either smuggling a big piece of square grouper she had found, or was very pregnant. The way the sunrise was hitting the ripples in the tide pools and the way they looked so right together made me happy for them. I wished them well on that next chapter in their life together. It made me happy for that little person that was about to join us on this planet. That kid was gonna be a lucky one. Parents that take the time to stroll down the beach together in search of natural treasures in the sand would be good teachers. I continued to walk up the beach, now smiling and saying hello or nodding as people passed. It's always funny to me how many people have a big smile to return if you just give them one first. Much like the expectant couple, I also walk at a meandering pace so I easily saw the tracks. She had emerged from the ocean last night to lay her eggs safely above the high water mark. She had worked hard to make her way up that far. Her tracks were like a v with a sideways horseshoe on the outside of it. Intermittently you could see a drag mark between her fin tracks from the back center of her shell as she traveled to her goal. The nest had been flagged off and it was now a nice, sun warmed, mound of sand with her eggs safely buried down inside. Her return tracks told another story. That drag mark was longer now. She was tired. She had done her work and it had been laborious. The tracks showed her increased effort to get back to the ocean. She was ready to go relax and float away in the salty moonlight. I kept walking, grateful now for the opportunity to see her story in the sand. I once heard that if you want to be happy, feel gratitude. I walked farther up the beach feeling pretty good and grateful, when I saw the writing. It was a beautiful imagine of a heart with flowers around it drawn into the sand. In the center of the heart said "it's a girl!!! and that made my eyes tear up. I knew that at that moment the universe was sharing with me, and all of you, that life goes on. No matter how crazy the world is getting, we all need to see that there is no scarcity of beauty and love on this planet. It's all around. So if your feeling like it's all getting a bit too much, step away from those devices of mass distraction and go for a nice walk, smile at strangers and keep your minds eye open to the positive world that's all around us.
Thanks for your time Toby Turner