Quite a few years ago, I worked in the city for a major magazine publisher. There I met Marilyn, who became a very dear friend. Our work was very hectic with endless deadlines and demands of all kinds. When she took her vacation, she and her husband went to some remote-ish island in the middle of nowhere to just relax.
“How boring,” I remember thinking.
During that time period I wanted to travel. I remember a great trip staying with cousins in Arizona, heading south to see New Mexico and north to visit the Grand Canyon. I also had the pleasure of staying with friends I’d made through the publisher and visiting beautiful western Kentucky. No laying about for me!
My, how times change.
Now my idea of a vacation is exactly that of Marilyn’s – a quiet beach, with as few people as possible to distract me, and simple relaxation. I’d like to bring some books, a notebook, a sketchbook, and basic art supplies and just sit. I’d like to close my eyes and listen to the ocean, and open my eyes and see this …
Now the funny thing is that the beautiful ocean above is actually the New Jersey shore, and about one and a half hour’s drive from my house. But I only want to go off-season when I can just sit. Better yet, that remote-ish island.
This could also work. It’s the quiet and the freedom from distractions I would like. And, of course, being near the water.
But overlooking or near the ocean would be my first choice. There is something so wonderfully soothing about the sound of the tide, ebbing and flowing, whispering and calling. I wouldn’t mind spending some of that time alone, just to rediscover parts of my artistic self that don’t find enough space and time in everyday life to express themselves. But see? There are two chairs, and you’re welcome to join me in companionable quiet, just enjoying the peace.
And at night? Being near enough to feel enveloped by the gathering dark, listening to the rushing of the ocean tide coming in. And just being. (This, too, by the way, is the Jersey shore.)
To think … Marilyn had it right all along.
Thank you to the photographers above who have generously shared their work online so that I may have such beautiful illustration to my post.
There is nothing like quiet simplicity to restore the soul. The shore is a wonderful place to do that.
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There sure isn’t, and not so easy to find nowadays. The world is moving much faster than it once did, and I sometimes really miss that world.
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I’d be quite happy to join you Jeanne in companionable silence! I’m reading ‘The Salt House’ by Cynthia Huntington, which is about summers spent in a shack on Cape Cod – heavenly.
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Wouldn’t it be wonderful? And that does sound heavenly. My family used to spend a week here and there various summers at Cape Cod when I was young. The salt air and the ocean smelled so different from that of New Jersey; I remember it still. I would love to go back … though not in a shack. (It would probably be an over-priced but comfy motel room. 🙂 )
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It’s a place I’ve always wanted to visit, but yes, the shack with its single room, bunk beds and outside outhouse wouldn’t be my first choice 🙂
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I think you would love it. And as in New Jersey, maybe better in the off-season when all the tourists have gone home and it’s not quite so bustling and busy. Talking about it makes me want to go. Cape Cod is probably a 7 hour drive from here … not all that close. So for now, in my dreams …
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