To calm my nerves this weekend, I spent time at the beach. Early yesterday morning I walked alone from my studio through Golden Gate Park all the way to Ocean Beach. The whole walk was sparkling with sunlight, green and magical from the recent rains. Finally reaching the wide expanse of ocean was a reward. The clean horizon line against sky levels my brain. The waves, not big or dramatic, peeled gently in the soft warm breeze.
I could see Bolinas across the Golden Gate and wondered what the beach was like there.
So we drove out to Bolinas where it was absolutely stunning. Joe went surfing and I sat in the spot where I've sat a thousand times and looked across to Ocean Beach where I'd been a few hours earlier. It gave me peace.
On a spectacular day like yesterday, I would normally want to bump up the magic with a hit or two of pot. It's like I want to turbo charge the day, or get more for my money, or squeeze more beauty out of an afternoon than what the ticking clock and setting sun will provide.
But I didn't.
Instead I sat quietly, feeling connected to my little beach, watching families playing catch, older folks walking dogs and young couples taking photos of themselves. I thought, is it time to get a dog? Maybe not yet.
It's been many years since I've had a whole day at the beach my family. Living at the beach had the down side of eliminating what we did every weekend before we moved to the beach: whole days playing, swimming and being lazy together. When you live a short walk to the beach you go home to eat, and everyone has their own friends to play with, and maybe they don't want to go to the beach at all, so you end up going by your self most of the time, or with a friend. It's one thing that bummed me out when I lived in Bolinas: I could never get my whole family to go to the beach together. Except when I forced it, like on Mothers Day, and everyone was cranky about it.
I want to take the calm feeling from the beach inside me today as I enter the workplace. I must avoid entering a technology loop, like the one captured in this Portlandia sketch.
I could see Bolinas across the Golden Gate and wondered what the beach was like there.
So we drove out to Bolinas where it was absolutely stunning. Joe went surfing and I sat in the spot where I've sat a thousand times and looked across to Ocean Beach where I'd been a few hours earlier. It gave me peace.
On a spectacular day like yesterday, I would normally want to bump up the magic with a hit or two of pot. It's like I want to turbo charge the day, or get more for my money, or squeeze more beauty out of an afternoon than what the ticking clock and setting sun will provide.
But I didn't.
Instead I sat quietly, feeling connected to my little beach, watching families playing catch, older folks walking dogs and young couples taking photos of themselves. I thought, is it time to get a dog? Maybe not yet.
It's been many years since I've had a whole day at the beach my family. Living at the beach had the down side of eliminating what we did every weekend before we moved to the beach: whole days playing, swimming and being lazy together. When you live a short walk to the beach you go home to eat, and everyone has their own friends to play with, and maybe they don't want to go to the beach at all, so you end up going by your self most of the time, or with a friend. It's one thing that bummed me out when I lived in Bolinas: I could never get my whole family to go to the beach together. Except when I forced it, like on Mothers Day, and everyone was cranky about it.
I want to take the calm feeling from the beach inside me today as I enter the workplace. I must avoid entering a technology loop, like the one captured in this Portlandia sketch.
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