Santa Snooze

This is one of my neighborhood beaches, along East Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz.

"One learns first of all in beach living the art of shedding; how little one can get along with, not how much."

- Anne Morrow Lindbergh


When Buddy, an edgy East Coaster, started spending winters in Santa Cruz with me, daily he would comment on the slow drivers and the smiley people. "Everybody moves in slow motion," he complained, "like they're in a trance."  He started calling my town "Santa Coma."

When I return back east to spend most of the summer with him, I quickly become stressed  by the speed racers on the New Jersey Turnpike, the Garden State Parkway, and other highways. I long to hear the ocean from our bedroom window in Parsippany, like we do in our West Coast Love Nest. (Yep, that's what we call it.)

As far as adjusting to a different pace of life goes, we both experience culture shock when we are together on opposite coasts. This we do for love!

But on days like today, when the sky is cloudless and perfectly blue,
the ocean mirrors the heaven,
I leave my Santa Cruz home
with just my keys,
a notepad, pen,
and a sweat shirt.

I'm drawn to the ocean,
a 10 minutes trance walk,
and I drop into the warm, sandy bosom
and nap.

On days like this, I am grateful for the beach life and its valuable lessons about shedding.

This afternoon, I let go of speed, stress, and worry;
traded them in for awe, deceleration, and trust.

 Now, I am ready to rename my town Santa Snooze, and I mean that in the best possible way.