This weeks’ writing prompt is ‘The Sea (& Me)’…..I was on the South Coast of Devon the other weekend celebrating my niece’s birthday, so the photos are my own – and as richly moody as you’d expect the English coast to be on a Sunday in late October.
I think, especially living on this island nation of ours, we all have a specific and personal relationship with the sea. What do you think of when you think about the sea? Is it where your soul yearns to be, or something that triggers memories of holidays as a kid? I grew up in Cornwall, so I’m looking forward to doing some flash writing on this one.
My process will be – tea, fire, notebook and pen, write for as long as I can on the subject and see what comes up. What will yours be? Let’s meet back here in a few days and see what we come up with….
Happy writing!
The Sea & Me
Everything changes when I get to the shoreline. My shoes come off almost as soon as I am in sight of sand, my body eager to be freed from the conventions of non-beach life. Plunging toes into sand is like plugging the charger into my phone. All the lights come on, energy pulses through me, I am connected – once again, and to everything.
I press on though. Sand is good but my appetite is primed for more. Feet sink and rise, scrunching the ground as I chew and churn my way through. Ploughing on, beyond the spewed line of seaweed, I arrive at the place where crunch becomes slurp, splat. I’m wet-footed, still pounding towards the waves, which in turn crash towards me, beckon me on, welcome me back, a faithful roaring dog, giddy at my return. We breathe in time now, the sea and me, inhaling and exhaling briny air. There’s a freshening of thought. The light reflects, bounces, is refracted through drops of sea mist to create an infinitesimal not-quite-seen sparkle that opens the eye wide enough so the soul can see once again.
I am here, I am here, I am here, my heart caws in tandem with the whirling twirling gulls overhead, circling the turning motion of my life which brings me always back to the rightness of me, in this place, on this shoreline, watching that horizon: Here I stand, finally still, feeling the splash of it as waves slap my calves, reminding me what a privilege it is to be alive, at this moment. Now. Now. Now.
