“The churning, churning,
churning of the waves
against the shore revives me
— makes me whole.” 
Nallén (poet)

I’m sitting at an umbrella-covered table on the patio deck of a hotel in Santa Cruz, California. The air temperature is in the mid-70º range, with a gentle breeze. The view… ah, the view… is a peek at a local beach, a layer of fog well off the coastline. The words of the poet Nallén express my thoughts even better than I can. The repetitive sound of the waves crashing onto the shoreline is like music to my ears. 

Is this Heaven? No, it’s Santa Cruz.

When I think about the beach, especially when I reflect on some of the beach music I’ve grown to love and appreciate through the years, I can’t help but think of Jimmy Buffet. It’s been almost two years since the legendary singer/songwriter died. He once said, “If there’s Heaven for me, I’m sure it has a beach attached to it.” I have no doubt that, in some other dimension, beachgoers are enjoying hearing Buffet singing his popular tunes Come Monday, It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere, and his signature song Margaritaville.

I’ve been here for only one hour, yet I already feel relaxed, refreshed, and renewed. I am in Santa Cruz to facilitate a one-day retreat for the faculty of a San José school tomorrow. I wanted to get here a day early to unwind, to get a good night’s sleep, and to avoid having to navigate the sometimes treacherous Highway 17 in the morning. Mission accomplished. I’m here, and tremendously grateful to be here.

The first eighteen years of my life were spent living by the sea — the Pacific Ocean. It was a short walk to the beach from my family home. Sadly, it was a walk I rarely, if ever, took. It wasn’t until I moved to the Santa Clara Valley in 1972 that I realized how blessed I was to have lived so close to the beach all those years. 

Oceanographer Jacques Cousteau once wrote, “The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.” Maybe this is why I feel so much at home when I visit places like Nagasaki, Japan and Nassau, Bahamas. 

One of the primary reasons I enjoy visiting San Francisco so often in my retirement is to walk along the water, whether at Ocean Beach, Crissy Field, or on the Embarcadero. It’s the water that brings me such a powerful sense of peace and serenity. Scientists talk about the mental health effects of the negative ions present in ocean air. I don’t know much about that, but I do know that ocean air is like medicine to me. I always walk away from it feeling better than when I arrived. 

I will definitely savor each moment of the next 48 hours!