"A blog is to a writer what a canvas is to an artist." ~ Colleen Redman

13 From the Life Guard Stand

bbtt13.jpg 1. In a pinch when I’m at the beach without a notebook, I can write in the margins of a clam box menu using my flip flop sandal for a desk.

2. Compared to the crowds here at Bethany Beach, Delaware, where we’re visiting Joe’s family, and Nantasket Beach in Hull, Massachusetts, where I was recently visiting mine; Nantasket was practically deserted, but Bethany is better for swimming because the water is so much warmer.

3. At a certain hour in the evening the whole town goes out for ice cream cones, like every kid rides a boogie board at the ocean during the day.

4. The woman who goes up and down the beach looking for coins with a metal detector reminds me of someone feeling for change in the back of the cushions of a couch.

4. I’m starting to want to learn lifeguard sign language.

5. On the sixteenth day of my two state beach vacations, I woke up and said to Joe, “Woe is me. Another day to spend on the beach and the sun is shining.”

6. When I was in Hull, I was reading from an old box of letters that my mother gave me, sent to my dad when he was in the army during WWII. If I wasn’t convinced that my Irish grandparents were poets, the letter they wrote to my dad convinced me. It was signed: “Oceans of Love and a Kiss on each Wave, Ma and Pa.”

7. The waves are so much bigger in Bethany than they are in Nantasket. When they’re really high, I have to carefully plot my way past the breakers and into the ocean, like I navigate my bike across the highway during traffic.

8. I bought a new “Miracle Suit” at 70% off at the Rehobeth Outlet Mall. Will I be able to walk on water now?

9. Watching a father run into the ocean to save his young daughter from a giant wave wipe-out, brought tears to my eyes.

10. Joe was reading this out loud from “Wise Heart” by Jack Kornfield: “Each time we meet another human being and honor their dignity, we help those around us. Their hearts resonate with ours in exactly the same way the strings of an unplucked violin vibrate with the sounds of a violin playing nearby. Western psychology has documented this phenomenon of “mood contagion” or limbic resonance. If a person filled with panic or hatred walks into a room, we feel it immediately, and unless we are very mindful, that person’s negative state will begin to overtake ours. When a joyfully expressive person walks into the room, we can feel that state as well.”

11. Next, he read about the Dalai Lama staying in a hotel for dignitaries while visiting San Francisco. “When it was time to leave he told the hotel management that he wanted to thank the staff in person, as many as wished to meet him. So on the last morning a long line of maids and dishwashers, cooks and maintenance men, secretaries and managers made their way to the circular driveway at the hotel entrance. And before the Dalai Lama’s motorcade left, he walked down the line of employees, lovingly touching each hand, vibrating the strings of each heart,” Kornfield wrote.

12. Watching dolphins from the beach is always a treat, even though they look like sharks. When I first saw whales off the coast off Provincetown a few years ago, I learned how the saying ‘I was floored’ came about because I was so overwhelmed at the awesome sight of them that I literally dropped down to the floor.

13. The Bethany Beach experience is not complete until we: 1. Get an overflowing tub of hand-cut, peanut oil fried French fries. 2. Walk or ride our bikes downtown for an ice-cream cone on the boardwalk. 3. Buy a new toy in the toy store like THIS one. Jaws on the beach video Here.
Thursday headquarters is here. My other 13’s are here. View more 13 Thursday’s here.

August 21st, 2008 Colleen Redman Posted in Thirteen Thursdays

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