Quarter III 2019: July ~ Sharing Dreams & Unfolding Gems

“There’s treasure down there!” the little boy at Indian Beach parking lot yelled at us.

“We’re on our way to find it!” I yelled back matching his tone. The little boys Dad laughed behind him. Gretchen was laughing behind me.

I wonder what would happen if someone went through this rock?

July fifth twenty nineteen. Seven a.m. We were set to enjoy one of the lowest tides of the Summer at a negative one point seven.

Our packs full of snacks, cameras, a little TP and water. The mission? Walk from Indian Beach all the way south to Arcadia Beach along the Summers lowest tide in one fell swoop.

“How long will this take us?” Gretchen asked me a few days before.

“I have no idea,” I told her. Never having attempted the trek ever. It just sounded like fun.

The original idea had really been imagined through a fictional scene from a children’s fantasy novel I’ve been working on. The kids adventure from Ecola to Arcadia. I never dreamt of walking the distance myself, until, I did. We did. Together.

“G, I’m going to walk from Indian to Ecola and all the way to Arcadia in one day,” I said. The tide needed me to do it on July 5th.

“I thought we were going on a hike together,” she said looking at our calendar plans that we’d plotted out for the year seven months prior on a cold dark night in January.

“No, I need to do this alone. It’s research for my book,” I said back, stern, serious, so very focused on finishing these damn books!

The room got quiet. The air sinking still. I walked away like I always do, thinking my stuff, my ideas are so very important.

The kids in this book don’t go on the adventure alone. Why should I? The author? Need to be alone to do this? I wondered to myself.

The disappointment travelled through both of us. Gretchen alone in the living room. Me alone in the bedroom. For all the great ideas I may have sometimes it takes a knock step or two to catch up to myself with the adaptability an idea needs to blossom into an opportunity.

I felt the sting. Another layer coming off of me. Breathing real deep I reframed the idea asking myself: What would it be like to go together?

I M A G I N I N G 

Fun. Adventurous. Enjoyable. Togetherness. Sharing. Connection… Oh there it is. 

We walked down the Indian Beach trail first coming upon a lonely lit beach bonfire. No one was around. I looked out to the ocean. Two surfer’s were getting the far out peak of morning waves.

Gretchen walked closer to the edge of the water. It was the longest beach of sand at Indian that I’d ever seen before. Her radar was set for treasure, or rather sanddollars.

The bounty treated her to plenty as we curved our way beyond Indian, toward the beach with no name, “It’s sanddollar beach,” she said.

“Ok!” looking out at the ‘Arcadia Rock’ that I’d taken the liberty to name myself. If I could name a rock. Why couldn’t she name a beach?

We tried to get as close as possible to Arcadia Rock traversing some barnacles. But alas without a boat or surfboard 100-200 feet was as close as we could get.

The pelicans squacked from their own rock. Seagulls swept to and fro. White poop drained as though it was Guanos paint. Sanddollars held their position until G found them. Treasure tucked deep in both of her pockets. And seaweed snuck itself in nearly every corner of our steps.

Coming round Crescent Beach, or Secret Beach as some call it, the sand dollars started showing their faces again. Large, small and medium a bounty to behold. Quite possibly the beginnings of crafty creations for upcoming Christmas gifts.

On through the North end of Cannon Beach the sweet emptiness of early morning low tide stillness and private beaches started to drift away. Being one hour into our journey more and more folks were delighting in the sacredness of this tide’s rarity.

Gretchen and I walked up and down the curved beach dunes. Finally coming upon Ecola Creek. With so much mileage ahead of us we opted to take our shoes off stick our toes in the cold water and cross. Sweet nothings were whispered in my ear fluttering in my heart as the energy of my very own dreams were beginning to inspire Gretchen’s own musings of possibility.

Please let it be… I heard my inner heart plead.

Now, closer to town and closer to Haystack we were met by millions, ok maybe just thousands of other passerbys. We scooted as close to the Rock as we could catching our timing of convergence with the lowest point of the tide at 9:27 a.m. I tuned into Her heartbeat for a moment. Asked Her what she needed. How I could possibly serve. Bringing awareness is the usual mode: Haystack Rock Awareness Program.

SHE  is  E v e r y w h e r e

Filling me with more exuberance than I ever expected. I’d always wondered about dear ol’ Haystack Rock. Was she the real mother hold of this town? Our anchor sitting right there in front of us. Holding shape and form into and through the depths of our lives intertwined.

We walked past Tolovana. The tides still far out beyond us. The beach shaped in new and different ways. Bridging towards Silver Point and then south onto Humbug Point where I completed a ritual that seemed fitting to release and let go of the last ten years of dedication and hard work.

L e t t i n g   G o

The tides are changing

into

S O F T N E S S

“Harmony with Nature” –Arcadia

AND THEN we walked into Arcadia…

Lastly meditating allowing the new free-memory to nourish us…

The rest of July skyrocketed into preparing for August.

Kona Rose amused us plenty!

I continued on the new, fun writing cadence with goofy by my side.

Always touching base with Haystack in case she had any new musings to share.

My girls stayed cozy.

I stayed busy. Honoring roots of this town intertwined by family and friends. Healing Foundations.

The gym stayed busy and I learned to RELAX again.

We practiced living and describing our dreams to nature aloud.

And then we BLOSSOMED together because dreams shared are better.

And if you have made it this far along the journey of Lala’s Life Garden blogs I’d like to offer a gift to one of my readers. Shoot an email on over to LalasLifeGarden@gmail.com and share one dream that you’re grateful for (don’t worry those will be kept private).

You’ll be entered into a drawing for a Lala’s Life Garden T-Shirt!

Winner will be drawn before the end of October!