Meeting myself face to face

I headed down London Street to the "Sands" :: a small beach created by a dredging project years and years ago. My only goal was to get outside and give my dog a much deserved walk in the fresh air, new, marsh air. She jumed at the anticipated outing, seeing her pink rhinestone collar and leash being dangled in front of her. I could swear she was smiling!

As for me, I was a little bit dreading it, but I had opened my heart and mind to it after trying to get moved into my 2-room waterfront cottage over a six-weeks period of time. I had been newly diagnosed with heart disease, and was feeling it. It took me some time in bed, reading novel after novel, and ducking in and out of email to finally feel free enough to untangle myself from my bedcovers and face a bright but chilly day. It is December 29, 2009.

We headed down the moss-draped street, Sentry oaks guarding our way. DiOnna, my nimble yorkie did the usual yorkie things, nose to ground, squat, and so forth. She was pulling so hard on the leash she was choking herself, but I found her very responsive to the heel command at which time she would ease up, turn around, and walk beside me at my pace. Eager and excited, however, she would forget, and take off again. Soon, however, we found ourselves walking onto the longest boardwalk I could reme

mber seeing, and spotting our first dolphin, a sleek cylinder with fin upright diving down and coming up over and over as it worked its way through the fairly still water at high tide.

The view was impressive. The fresh air took my breath away. The sunshine was a blessing. I was so happy, my heart felt delight. All it took, I thought, was getting out of my comfort zone and moving into this beckoning world to feel the hand of my God upon my shoulder, and the healing had already begun.

I was so happy to walk the shoreline. I talked to a visitor from Alaska who was a specialist in fossils. He had a bag of shark teeth he had found already, and some bones. He showed me a little about fossils and soon, I found my own, a jawbone of a stingray. It was black and shiny, with many fine striations. A pattern only God could create.

We spent a couple of hours on the waterfront, DiOnna and I. I was surprised at my stamina and that I had no feeling that I was tired or needing to get inside. I was so awed at my enjoyment of this simple pleasure, of walking and breathing God's marsh air.

And as if the shark tooth and fossil I was carrying home in my pocket weren't enough; I was blown away by the full moon ascending in the sky as I made my way home. As this pale luminescent body made its way higher and higher as I walked, I saw it's shy reflection in the marshy waters. The rising moon would bring the tide higher. Simultaneously, I realized the sun had not yet gone down and that the two were almost facing each other on opposite sides of the sky. The sun was a runny egg, spreading its yellows and pale oranges across the western horizon.

I thought to myself. I need to come back in my car, and take the photos of the moon in the water. But, now I'm in bed again, getting warm after a hot shower. My cup of coffee is re-warmed from the morning, and my DiOnna is worn out and lying by my side, also getting warm.

Now I know. If I want to meet the me I want to be, again, she can be found down on the waterfront, on the shoreline picking through seashells, looking for shark's teeth, fossils, and shells that look like angel's wings.