The Beach

The beach is my happy place. That’s what our aqua running tanks said. The tanks I got to for us to wear on my birthday weekend. As we ran by the beach.

#thebeachismyhappyplace

The beach has become my calm place. In my head. In my heart. In real life.

When I end my EMDR therapy sessions, my counselor has me to go my calm place. This place has changed a few times over the last year. Right now, it is the beach.

I sit in the sand. Where sand and grass meet. So close though to the water. And the waves lap softly on the shore. The water, calm and glassy. The sun, sinking low in the horizon. Setting. Purples and pinks washed across the sky.

And I breathe. Deeply. Calmly. I feel the water. Rolling onto the shoreline. In time with my breathing. In. And out. And I relax.

So I have made time the last few months. To head to the coastline. Paddle board on the

calm water of Newport Harbor. Sitting on the board. Conversing deeply with friends.

#birthdayfunwithalongtimefriend

#firsttimepaddleboarderrockingit

#paddleboardingconversations

Walking along the beach. Climbing over rocks. With my husband and kids. Laughing and talking. Taking family pictures. Visual representations and memories of the water and waves and sand and peace and calm.

#Herticafamilyoutakes

So this year, as I bid goodbye to 43 and welcomed 44, I went back to the ocean. Two days of the salt air. Breathing in deeply. Eyes closed, focused on the sound of the water. The beach. The coastline. Timed shared with kindred hearts.

#kindredhearts

#coffeecoffeecoffeeandtheocean

I heard a song on the radio last week. From a group I had never heard of. Coastline. And the melody. The beat. The lyrics. I could hear. And smell. The coastline. My calm place.

I have played the song over and over again. It reminds me of a fall in California at the beach. And it calls me back to my place of peace and calm and serenity. And I dream of my next visit to the shore.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cp-1t9B62zco

"Coastline" by Hollow Coves

#dreaming