There is a spot near where I live that has world class diving and snorkeling. My marine creature reference manuals are filled with photographs of incredible marine life, from octopus to blennies, all taken from this innocuous location under a bridge, surrounded by ten-story apartment buildings and hundred foot yachts.
Over the years, I’ve been dozens of times, and hubs and I make it a point to take our children a couple of times a year, usually in the summer when the water is warm.
There’s something special about returning to the same place again and again. You get to know the landscape (or seascape), to come to expect certain flora and fauna. This familiarity feels like a sense of belonging.
When there is something unexpected, like a hawk swooping low overhead while on a routine trail or a grumpy-looking frogfish the size of a fist lounging in the shallows, it evokes a sense of wonder, that even for all this familiarity, there is still yet another layer of this place to explore. It’s magical.
This time on our trip to our snorkel spot, we saw a green sea turtle. It was my children’s first time swimming with a turtle, and the first time I’d seen a turtle— any turtle—here. It was a juvenile, the size of a large platter, and was casually munching on the seagrass (suitably named turtle grass, which was also flowering— another first). Even though I’d been coming to this same site for more than fifteen years, it still evokes a sense of wonder.
This is my invitation for you this week: to go out to your spot, your place. If you don’t have one, consider it time for an adventure, to find a place that brings you peace, one that you can return to again and again, to witness the changes both in nature, and in yourself. It’s an ancient practice, and it does something few things in our world today allow for us to do: to come home into ourselves.
I’d love to hear how it goes for you. Hit reply and let me know; I read ‘em all.
Big hugs,
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