Through Sister Water

"Be praised, My Lord, through Sister Water; she is very useful, and humble, and precious, and pure."
-  St. Francis of Assisi

Though I live a block away from the ocean these days, I find I miss deep water.  It's not enough to look at the ocean, to wet my feet in it.  Even a swim doesn't soothe me like it used to.  There was a time that the sound of the waves in my ear was enough to give me perspective.  Since my time offshore, though it's comforting, the ocean, but not enough to center me anymore.  

I understood the world offshore.  It was full of strange beauties as well as potential dangers, but it was simple.  There was just Bryan and I, the boat and the ocean, the course we charted.  The complexities of life, the should I or shouldn't I, slipped away.  My world narrowed to 44 feet of fiberglass, teak and canvas, and one man.  And I knew a peace and happiness I had never known before, my mind a far-reaching, ever-spinning spider of a construct, weaving endless pasts and futures, forgetting as I had done for years, the precious, fragile beauty of the present.

I've been back in the world now for a few months now.  I'm caught up in all the daily complexities of life.  I'm walking the beach, swimming, but I need deep water and wonder how, on the dock, going to work, making a living and life, how I'm going to find the peace and surety offshore brought me.  I think this is my challenge.  I've learned to be brave, to leap.  I've learned to dream and reach for those dreams.  I've learned what it feels like when I'm on course, aimed toward my true north.  Now it's time to find that peaceful place beyond the noise of everyday life, to the essentials, my essentials, that narrow world of me and Bryan, of boat and and ocean, and the course we have charted, our course.  May I find my way with grace, sooner as opposed to later.