“The voice of the sea
speaks to the soul.”
~ Chopin

I spent the day in San Francisco yesterday. My elementary school was celebrating its 75th anniversary with an afternoon reception on campus. I arrived in The City early enough to park my car by the school and walk up to The Tennessee Grill at 22nd & Taraval to enjoy a bowl of oatmeal and an English muffin prior to the anniversary event. Walking down Taraval Street on my way back to the school offered me a peaceful view of the Pacific Ocean.

I departed the school campus at 6:30 p.m. and headed directly down to Ocean Beach at the end of Sloat Boulevard. This has become a regular stop for me when I visit The City. There is something special about being at the ocean. Throughout my life, I’ve heard people comment on how much they enjoy breathing “the ocean air.” I didn’t think much of it in my childhood, since that’s about all I knew. My family home was ten blocks from the beach. My elementary school and the playground I frequented in my earlier years are only eight blocks from the ocean. Even my high school had stunning views of the Pacific Ocean and a good supply of healthy ocean air.

Those who know more about these things than I often talk about the health benefits of the negative ions contained in the air near the ocean. They may be negative ions, but much has been written about the positive respiratory health benefits one receives from breathing-in the fresh, salty ocean air. I can attest to this, as I’ve experienced it myself.

Perhaps even more beneficial than the respiratory health is the overwhelmingly positive boost one’s mental health receives being at the beach. Most often, when I stop at Ocean Beach during my visits to The City, I don’t even get out of the car. I park facing the water, open the windows to let those negative ions fill the car, and absorb the sights, sounds, and smells of the mighty Pacific from the comfort of my car. Gazing out over the waves at the horizon in the distance, and occasionally catching a glimpse of the Farallon Islands, located 28 miles off the San Francisco coast, I experience a tremendous sense of peace and tranquility. No visit to The City is complete for me without a brief stop at the beach.

“If there’s a heaven for me,
I’m sure it has a
beach attached to it.”
~ Jimmy Buffett