One Day We'll Die Love and They'll Bury Us At Sea

It had been awhile since I could be found walking
the sandy side streets of Carolina Beach.
I had lived in the sleepy suburbs of Wilmington, North Carolina
for a single cycle of seasons in 2010.

The living was good and the pace was slow
but being a city boy born and a city boy bred I
abandoned the sand and
traded in the ocean for a sea of
concrete.

However,
I loaded up the Jeep yesterday
and made the modest drive to
a place I once called
home.

I was embraced there with the most open of arms and
as I stood silent in the unseasonably cold night air
I heard the ocean breathing rhythmically in time
out in the dark
distance.

I was deeply moved by the sound.

It was a song that I hadn't heard in years yet
somehow I still knew the melody.
I was again at the edge of existence and once more it seemed
as if the water had been with me
all along.
The waves were my fathers and
if I gave myself willingly to the deep I
would be home again and
at peace with my
Creator.

I reached into my pocket and began to type out a message to Stephanie.

(Somewhat abridged)
"...I am at the ocean.
I hear God in the ocean.
I wanted to share that."

...
Travel reminds us that we are alright on our own.
That we evolve,
and we age,
and we hopefully
improve.

We are part of something greater.
You and I and us together.

Listening to the water lap at the shoreline
as we count down our blessed and
numbered
days.