Messages
Swirly
(C)Melanie Parish, 2013
As I walk along the beach, I look out over the horizon. I gaze for a long time, dipping deep into my mind, into the nothingness, free-falling and letting loose of the stresses from the last month. I am tired but the wind in my hair and the gooshy sand under my feet and the salty wet wind refresh me. I am starting to feel alive again. I can feel my mind emptying and the joy nipping at my heels as I walk.
As I look into the distance, I see something in the water. I can’t quite see what is floating my way. I walk and I wait and I eventually sit down in the sand and watch it floating in. It feels gritty on my skin to plop down in the sand and it is warm under my legs. I sift the sand through my fingers as I sit watching and waiting. The bobbling thing floats toward me and then away again as the waves wash in and out. I realize the tide must be coming in, or whatever it is would be moving away from me and not toward me.
I feel timeless propped up on the sand watching and waiting. I have nowhere to be and nowhere to go. For the first time in a year, my time is my own. So, I sit and wait.
“Oh,” I exclaim. I am a little surprised to hear myself speak out loud.
I realize it is a bottle floating on the waves. Now I am super curious. I continue watching and I start calculating when I can run into the water to retrieve the bottle. Dreams of genies and notes in bottles whirl around my consciousness.
My cynical side rears, “Don’t be silly. It’s probably garbage,” says my critical voice.
I roll my eyes at my own unwillingness to play and race splashing into the water. The water is cooler than I expected and makes me catch my breath. I slow down a little and give my legs time to get used to the water. I swim out to the bottle. As I get close, I can see there is a rolled up paper in the bottle.
I slosh to shore and wrangle the note out of the slippery bottle.
It is astounding. It is life changing. It is miraculous. It says……..
