Another beach moment

Last summer I spent a weekend at Peak's Island off the coast of Maine. This summer it worked out for me to spend a weekend at Jeckyll Island off the coast of Georgia. The terrain is wholly different. The island was forested with Spanish Oak trees featuring the characteristic Spanish moss hanging from the limbs. The coastline itself sported 8 miles of a narrow strip of white sand and sand dunes separating them from forested area. Both islands have their own beauty. The beach is a place I love walking on. Instead of walking in the park back home, I get to walk with the scent of salt in the air, the constant roar of waves in my consciousness, and the endless stretch of wave after wave in my vision. That makes for a nice walk.

I thought I would walk down the beach a couple of miles to a restaurant to eat and walk back. That way I would be sure to get my exercise for the day. Well, I did get my exercise, but on the way back the sun disappeared behind the horizon, so it got dark. Of course, there are no street lights on the beach, and the moon was a very small crescent, so I was walking without much light at all. I couldn't see the path back to the hotel, so I overshot it by a half mile. I finally found the main road, and walked back to the hotel on it. 4 miles turned into 5 pretty quickly. It took a good hour to cool down from the extra long walk.



You have to laugh at experiences like that. It shows how disorientation can lead you way off track even though you think you know where you are. I saw a gift book today, too, called Lessons of Life from the Ocean. I'd like to add this one to its pages. Walking on the beach after dark turns a decent walk into a disorienting one. Life is seldom a beach, but if it ever is, don't let walking on it lure you into staying on it after the sun disappears. It causes more than one anxious moment.