Yesterday I took my first beach walk of 2025 for all of 20 minutes, but I was elated by it. I’m still struggling with the pesky respiratory thing, but I’m determined to return to my regular walking. Lately it’s been around the couple blocks that constitute our immediate neighborhood, but yesterday on the way home from an appointment, when I mentioned how I wasn’t looking forward to the usual walk, Marty suggested West Dennis Beach, as we were nearby anyway. Yes! All for it. Anything to avoid pounding pavement.
Well, that beach walk was brutal. And exhilarating. Why? 60mph plus winds, a parking lot that resembled a desert sandstorm, and a deserted beach presenting challenges I needed. Not too extreme, but doable. I was quick to dodge the car door as the wind slammed it shut. I climbed the stairs, over the wall, onto the beach, gripped my hood about my face, kept my head down, and I walked. Against the wind. Or rather I weaved. I was looking down most of the time, occasionally straying a little too close to the shoreline, and risking soggy feet. It felt so good. The wild aliveness of it all. And I was part of that. The pure sensory pleasure of feeling my lungs expand, and feeling stronger. Sometimes I staggered against the wind’s ferocity, but I felt the cushioning of the sand with each of my footfalls. Heard the roar of the water and the wind, felt the sharp scent of the salt air, anticipated the warmth and taste of that pot of spicy chai I’d have when I got home. I wondered at the seagulls, huddled against the elements, but still hugging the water’s edge. Just like me, us all huddled against the elements. Me, Saying Hail Mary’s, a remnant from my Catholic schoolgirl days, still one of my favorite prayers, to keep me going inch by inch. Hail Mary’s that always feel like a mother’s hug, reassuring me, it’s okay. You can do this. Step by step. Minute by minute. Yesterday’s beach walk was glorious. A multi-sensory explosion of feeling each and every one of my senses and the wonder of what it means to be human in what can sometimes feel like an inhospitable world. And I did it. I kept on.
