things the ocean tells me…(after it wakes me)

There are many reasons why people travel across the ocean to visit the lush, tropical beauty of the Hawaiian islands. There is a magic here, in this island world.

On my first night in Maui, I’m awakened at 4:30 in the morning because our windows are wide open and I hear the thrashing roar of the ocean in my ears. The ocean rouses my senses. It jolts me with its sheer majestic presence; and I am captivated by the slow, rumbling loudness that is everywhere.

This is what I see from our fifth floor balcony. Inky black water beneath a luminous moon, peeking out from gauzy, white clouds. It’s the kind of sky that promises a deeper existence, far away from our daily life.

But the ocean is mesmerizing. And as I stand in the pre-dawn darkness, I’m captivated by this breathtaking scene, made more dramatic because everyone else is asleep. It’s just me and the sea. Alone.

I hear the sounds of eternity in the ebb and flow of the waves, and I’m comforted by this. My ears hear it before my mind does. It is ocean speak; the mysterious language of the earth, and I can sense that there are lessons to be found, from this churning, wild, crashing body of water that has always been here. Forever.

The ocean reminds me that Life is always moving. Mine. Yours. Everyone’s.

Embrace it, or else.

My life is certainly changing, and it’s as palatable as the salty ocean air that I’m breathing. My kids are my joy, but my boys are now seventeen and nineteen, and today I’m a mother on the verge of having an empty nest. So I’m adapting. Although my mothering role has been constantly changing, now there is more. I sense it, new and scary challenges that are yet to be discovered.

Letting go and loss, once foreign thoughts in the back of my mind are now here, in large screen Technicolor, everywhere I look. Somebody is sick. Somebody is dying. Somebody is saying good-bye. And why not? This is the journey of life.

I think of these things when I listen to the ocean. I remember all sorts of truths that become muddled and lost in our hurried lives. The crashing waves tell me so; they remind me that nothing stays the same.

Beautiful things will happen to you.

And the painful, difficult times will always pass. Because Life goes on, no matter what. This is the promise of an ocean that has no end.

 

Have you ever stood in the darkness and listened to the sounds of the sea? I hope so, because then you’ll hear it.

There is a message in the foamy white waves that cover the sand like a smooth blanket. And I hear these cryptic words whenever I see sparkling gems on the shore, after the ocean washes away. And it is this.

Be grateful. Our lives are filled with calm waters that we should stop and relish. Happy, giddy moments are right there, ready to happen. Look!

The wild, thunderous ocean tells me this.

Wake up, Leslie. Don’t miss it.

(I hope you can hear it too.)

 

Aloha from Maui,

Leslie

 

 

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