Category Archives: Ocean

Things I Forgot about Oregon in the Summer

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  • I forgot: The utter glory, the sheer magic of berry season. The full measure of deliciousness and wonder to be found in Marionberries, farm fresh blueberries and raspberries and strawberries, as well as farmer’s market cucumbers and lettuce and tomatoes, real maple bars, and seafood fresh from the Pacific.
  • I forgot: That giant, lush roses and daisies and sweet peas and hollyhocks grow wild in the ditches along the side of the road, and in some places, the trees are so thick you can’t see through them.
  • I forgot: There are some trees that are so green they are almost black.
  • I forgot: That nothing here ever dries completely, that it’s either soaked, soggy, wet, or damp. I forgot mud and mold and moss.
  • I forgot: Every summer has its very own soundtrack. This summer it’s Beach House Radio on the TuneIn Radio app. It’s perfect, “If you’re fond of sand dunes and salty air,” (Groove Armada, At The River).
  • I forgot: Even when you have tons of good food available, you don’t have to eat it all at once, don’t have to eat until or unless you are hungry. There is enough, enough time, enough goodness. You can wait, or you can eat–either way you can relax into the sweetness of enough.
  • I forgot: If you drive HWY 22, you will get stuck in traffic caused by massive farm equipment driving slowly down the road towards the next field.
  • I forgot: The gray sky and rain will make me feel terrible, down and depressed and tired, even this near the beach.
  • I forgot: This close to the ocean, it’s like there is a giant white noise machine running 24 hours a day, and it’s wonderful.
  • I forgot: I never tire of walking on the beach, the smell and the sound and the shape of it. This space, this place is precious.
  • I forgot: On some days, it’s so foggy that you can’t see the ocean, even if you are right next to it.
  • I forgot: In Waldport, owning a weed-eater is more important than owning a lawn mower.
  • I forgot: Sometimes driving to the store to buy groceries or taking a shower is the only time you’ll have alone, so take advantage of it.
  • I forgot: How much I like the people I love, how much I enjoy their company, and how much I miss them when we are apart. It is absolutely a survival technique to forget this, because if I felt the entire measure of how sad I was to be separated from them, I’d fall down and never want to get back up.

    Me and my brother (who I adore).

  • I forgot: It’s more fun to remember stuff with other people who remember the same things, even if your memory of it isn’t exactly the same.
  • I forgot: No matter how long or how well you know someone, you still don’t know everything.
  • I forgot: That I am never really ready to go home, because this is home too.

O is for Ocean

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smelt sands, yachats oregon

When trying to choose a word for today, I opened my dictionary to “O” and started making a list: ordinary, origami, orange, origin, only, old, observe, obsession, object, obstruction, occupy, odd, offering, okay, Oliver, Om, open, one, openhearted, Oregon, ocean…

Ocean. As soon I wrote it down, I knew it was the right word. My heart did a little flutter, “yes.” Having grown up an hour and a half from the coast of Oregon, I spent a lot of time there, playing in the sand and water, walking up and down beaches collecting shells, sitting in a lawn chair with my toes in the sand and reading a book, stuffing myself full of seafood and saltwater taffy, roasting marshmallows and hotdogs on a bonfire built in the sand, and falling asleep to the sound of the waves. Living in Colorado, as much as I adore it here, I miss the ocean.

There is a feeling I get, standing at the edge, bubbles of seawater tickling my feet, looking out on to the horizon, hearing the waves, feeling the spray, that’s like being in church (or a bookstore or library). I feel utterly in love, vibrating with it, simultaneously chilled and warmed. My heart opens and my chest fills with the sound of the water, the waves moving in and out, my heartbeat and breathing echoing that rhythm. I don’t need to be anywhere else. I feel at ease and at peace. The ocean is a divine and precious thing.