Special place

Stephen and I were invited to join Genevieve, Willow and Genevieve’s friend, Jenny, at the beach yesterday. This was special on a number of fronts, firstly that it was time with family, secondly it was time at the beach which I always love but most importantly, it was at a beach that I haven’t been able to visit for a year.

We have a large selection of beaches on our doorstep living here, but my favourite, that I visited everyday the summer before last, was closed to the public for the entire, previous summer. I missed it terribly.

Genevieve and I were actually asked to leave it while catching an early season swim last year. I queried the reason for this and was told the locals wanted to protect their family from Covid, even though it was a public beach, managed by DOC. We didn’t have much choice, other than to obey the ban.

I have found in my life that I become attached to places in nature, finding I replenish myself while at these places. My family farm, which my parents sold when I was 13, was one of these. It took me years to get over the loss after this was sold because I had been so connected to that land. In 2019 I became unwell and despite this, I would still drive to this beach and just lie in the sand connecting to nature and soaking up the healing sunshine. When well, I love body boarding, but while sick I was happy just to lie in this beautiful place.

So last year, with the ban in place, I had to make do with the other beaches, but none had the feel of this one and I continually felt the loss of this special place.

Yesterday was gloomy and cold with a strong wind making conditions uncomfortable. By the time Stephen and I arrived, Genevieve and her party had found a secluded bay, adjacent to the beach I love, that was sheltered from the wind. Blankets were already spread out and I found a spot and stretched out, lying face down, only moving to eat some of the delicious lunch we had each prepared. Before long, the sun was out and what started as an uncomfortable morning, soon turned into a beautiful afternoon. But it was more than that for me, it was about re-establishing a connection to one of my special places.

Throughout my life, I have had numerous examples of things I love being taken from me. I spent a number of hours working on this issue last year. It was also one that I had brought forward from my previous lives. Generally, when one has completed work on an issue, it no longer reappears but this is the first time that something that I have lost has been given back to me, the best outcome of any such self-work.

I look forward to many happy hours this summer at this special place.