The Pacific Ocean is twenty miles from our house. We live in the middle between the San Jacinto Mountains and the ocean.
My husband’s brother Brian came to a rented beach house from Utah and spent a week listening to ocean’s tides. Our jaded and clouded eyes were opened and we viewed the Pacific Ocean through their eyes.
Did you know that dolphins can be seen without binoculars, a mere 100 feet out from the sand? My daughter spotted them, and we lifted Sunshine and Bright Eyes onto the ledge. With a head resting against mine, Bright Eyes gazed along my outstretched arm and pointed finger to see the curved backs and fins leaping from the water.
Dolphins were never so incredible before.
My granddaughters’ hair smelled of ocean. Reddened from the sun, their soft cheeks had grains of sand still clinging. Damp beach towels radiated warmth between us. The ocean never was so amazing.
Did you know that sand glitters with gold and quartz as the tide comes in and then recedes? “Real gold, Grandma! Look!” Wet sand will never be the same after seeing it in Sunshine’s hands.
My niece Kamille walked along the beach with her tall husband Zach. He said something funny, and she turned to gaze up at him. Her smiling profile with her rounded baby belly, their two children jumping in the water and laughing—creation and life will always be defined by that image in my head.
I will gaze out on the salt waters with brighter eyes from now on.
