The Daily Astorian: PACIFIC and CLATSOP COUNTIES — A high-wind watch has been upgraded to a high-wind warning, in effect from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday for the south Washington and north and central Oregon coast . . .sustained winds of 30 to 40 mph, with gusts to 60 to 70 mph near beaches . . .
. . . and this didn't even mention the rain. The kind of rain that pours right into your boots, rendering the waterproof part of the sales pitch just kind of cute.
I don't even know what time it was. I didn't want to know. Just barely light. That's what time it was. What I did want to know was the tide schedule and my best guess was less than an hour to high tide in the middle of a kick ass storm. Perfect.
The bull kelp is back; as is the feather boa kelp. And these worm-like things?? I picked up a handful of flat, smooth seaweed and the wind moved it in such a way that it felt alive in my hand. For as far as I could see it was just me, the seagulls and an awesome wrack line.
Then in the distance I saw a lone figure. Another soul drawn to the early morning beach under conditions forcing all the rest of Seaside to stay hunkered down inside. We were walking towards each other and the first thing I noticed was the bright orange, hooded rain jacket. And black pants. We were dressed exactly alike. Except he was barefoot while I was baptizing my no-longer waterproof boots in the sea. We just waved as we passed each other, but on the return we met halfway between the rocks and the water, complimented each other on our fine choices in rain wear and introduced ourselves. We exchanged mutual admiration of the exceptional weather and I learned his name was Casey, he was from Utah, traveling with his wife and two small children and he teaches math. He wanted to know if I was looking for anything in particular on the beach and I said, "Not really. Just whatever I find - or whatever finds me." He nodded, there was a little more beach chat, we bowed in honor to each other and continued on our way.
A few minutes later I was sitting in the Boneyard, having found a couple beach pea blossoms and a slug willing to eat them. I looked up in surprise to see Casey walking towards me. We said hi, again, and he asked what I had found. So I had to explain I liked feeding the slugs . . . and he hardly batted an eyelash. Impressive. But then he really blew me away. "You said you were looking for whatever you find - and you found me. So I came back to see if you needed anything". Seriously? He was that wide open, honest and kind; no ulterior anything. Just human goodness.
Ok. I will admit I instantly flashed on Alanis' Ironic lyrics - "It's meeting the man of my dreams. And then meeting his beautiful wife." - but only for a moment. The real take home was the pure pleasure of meeting a kindred spirit in my most sacred place who totally gets it.That's exactly what I needed to find this morning. Sea magic indeed.
No comments:
Post a Comment