From the Powerhouse park above Del Mar beach I could see the surfers and sun worshippers dotting below in the water enjoying the last waves before the majestic west coast sun to disappear in an hour or so. Perched above, I could see the beautiful San Diego coastline stretches for miles continuously north or south as far as the eyes could see. A few hours ago I was in this same water 8 mile north of Moon light beach bobbing up and down for my 2nd OW lesson with Bryan (my new swim coach). After the swim I dashed down to Del Mar in my very Californian convertible on the Pacific Coast Highway to meet Han w our new end-of-the-day routine of dinner and watching the sun going down. This new life seems so far away from the one dark night in NJ when I was trying to imagine what the eventual new life would be like. Now I tempted to jump into the water to join the throng of waiting band. It would not surprise me if they had been waiting patiently hours already for the beginning and end of each repeating wave cycle and ready to end w one final sun movement of the day to celebrate the moon emergent. This cycle of beginning and end will repeat again in roughly 10 hours. I held back the desire of jumping in remembering Bryan's advice that you don't go OW swimming alone unless it is in an absolutely calm beach like La Jolla locating a bit further South. Always you should inform a lifeguard that you would be swimming back and forth only for short distances. A well taken advice for my first learning of the rule of the road for OWS. I remember years ago of how I would just disappear for an hour or so on Martha Vineyard and caused panic to my family and friends. Yikes just read a FB post of how an OWO member was recently saved by his swimming partners when he experienced an unexpected heart attacked while OWS. Having turned 60 this year I will wait for another day and be happy to just watch the sun set and eat dinner.
Why I swim? is just like why I paint? And all other host of questions that are continuously floating in my head ie why I need to breathe?, why I work?, why I am here? and why I need to connect and have a relationship?
Since landed I could not bring myself to make any marks from the last one made before leaving NJ. Everything here is so evenly expansive and flat. I know better to not fall into the trap of trying to capture the beautiful and the majestic w/o having any real personal internal content. Because all you get would be parallel lines one after the other w no tension at all very boring and nothing to build upon. I do miss my 334 warwick trees, It took me a while until I could see the trees but once I saw it I got it.
The first OWS lesson Bryan gave was how to read the waves and how to find the entry point into the water. It was a very powerful lesson to let me know that just because you have been seeing something for a very long time you don't really know it until you intentionally going to have a real relationship with it then there would be greater commitment to understand its very nature and the rationality for its very existence. Until then it would be only very superficial. The waves are so pretty to look at from a far but to try to get to know it to really feel its being and embrace its full power so you could be inside its very womb to feel its very soul and try to swim through it. It will take time and won't be right away.
At the end of my 2nd lesson as I swam back toward the shore and was just about to feel the ground so I could get my footing to stand up a huge wave came baring down and knocked me over and my goggles flew away. It was just a pat in the head to say "Welcome to the neighborhood"
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