Mary van Balen

Exultation is the going
Of an inland soul to sea,
Past the houses—past the headlands—
Into deep Eternity—

Bred as we, among the mountains,
Can the sailor understand
The divine intoxication
Of the first league out from land?
Emily Dickinson


With the surf pounding beside us, my daughter and I walked the beach this afternoon. My lungs appreciate deep breaths of salty sea air. My heart and soul appreciate the gift of the sea. Emily Dickinson had it right. For this inland soul anyway, going to the ocean is cause for deep joy.

I remember the first time I experienced the ocean. I had finished freshman year at college. My parents, my sister, brother, and I took a trip to the East Coast. Though Mother's family was from Massachusetts, we had never been. I'm not sure what beach we visited first, but I will never forget the moment. Sounds of pounding waves were the first hint of the immensity of what lay ahead. Then, walking beyond the dunes, I saw it. I was overwhelmed with its beauty. Its energy and power. Surely, this was holy ground.

I have never recovered.  Read More 

Time on the beach is always a grace. This week my daughter and I spent three days there, walking, looking for shells, watching birds, listening to waves crashing and tides going out and coming in. We splashed through cold water and waded in tide pools, remembering ocean vacations with my parents. Mom loved the tide pools and sat in her beach chair right in the middle. She had a good eye for sharks' teeth when walking along the oceans edge. With a sieve, she found some big ones in the tide pools.

Wonderful memories.

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PHOTO: Disney
Last night a couple of friends and I spent the evening at the local art theater watching Disney's new Earth Day offering: Oceans.
That it was short on storyline did not present a problem since I went for the images; the movie does not disappoint. I am an ocean soul and treasure every moment I can muster in the waves or walking the beach. I left the movie theater with a more profound respect for the complexity and wonder of the world under water.

The images were breathtaking: an octopus that looks like a silk scarf patterned with gold and brown undulating through its blue world, a leafy sea dragon that is almost indistinguishable from the plants it eats, humpback whales hanging upside down to sleep. The list is endless.

Some creatures travel thousands of miles every year while others that stay put like the leafy sea dragon that cannot survive if moved to a different depth or location.  Read More