Settling in in Santa Monica

All is well with our roomates and sleeping eight to a room.  I actually got a good night's sleep and everyone was very respectful and nice.  I actually got a chance to talk to a couple of the girls this evening, and they are 21 and from Australia, in the US for a month and then to Europe for a couple weeks.  Interesting to talk to them.  Really nice girls.  Melissa and Laura were the last to wake up....they slept till noon!  Why would any teenager want to do that at the beach?  Why would ANYONE want to do that at the beach??  Oh well, it was the  first time we had the time, so I let them indulge.

The girls say that I love EVERYTHING on this trip, and that I think EVERYTHING we see is beautiful.  I thought about that remark, and I think it is true, and I am glad for it.  As our trip is nearing an end, I have been reflecting on everything we have seen and everything we have done.  In my lifetime, I have seen many beautiful beaches, many majestic mountains, several big and busy cities.  My favorite ones are the ones I am seeing for the first time, and the thrill of this trip is that it has been a month of seeing things for the first time.  Things that I will probably never see again.  There is the excitement of discovery, of seeing how each place is beautiful and unique and special in it's own way, of seeing it for the first time.  It brings my focus into the present moment, into the "now", as Eckhart Tolle would say, and there is such beauty and magic in the present moment.  It is seeing things as from the eyes of a child.  Chip told me that a good friend of his remarked on trying to make every day like vacation, and I have been thinking about that, too.  How to bring that  magic and excitement of discovery into my daily life when I come home?  How to stay open and present to the beauty that is in all the little moments of everyday?  That is my challenge.  And I also can't help but think of my mother tonight, the woman who taught me that sense of adventure and excitement, so thanks mom.  I hope my kids also learn that from me.

The Power of Now

On a less philosophical note, we had a great day.  In spite of our late start, we had enough time to hit the beach and catch some rays for a couple hours, then change clothes and take the long walk on the Boardwalk to Venice Beach, where they have all kinds of street vendors and street performers that the girls thought were just the coolest thing ever.  They are completely in love with Venice Beach.  It is a little seedy, but just funky enough to be interesting so I can understand why.

On the walk back to the hostel, we walked a good mile on the beach at the shoreline....well, I walked on the shoreline.  The girls started there and got deeper and deeper in the water till they were about waist deep.  The sun was setting behind the mountains and the lights were lit up on the Ferris Wheel on the Santa Monica Pier, and there was a sliver of a moon up in the sky.  If you looked real closely, you could see the colors of the sunset reflected in the wet sand of the receding waves.  It was magical.  The girls later said they were going to run up and ask me to carry their purses so they wouldn't get wet in the surf, but it looked like I was pondering life so they didn't.  They were right, I was.  Not sure how they could tell by just looking at me from a distance, but they could.  I suspect they were too, in their own way. I suspect they will remember that walk in the water for a long time to come.

Here's to hoping that you all find the magic and beauty in each and every person today, and in each and every experience.

Love,

Beth