“See the line where 
the sky meets the sea? 
It calls me.” 
Disney’s Moana

The 1987 movie, The Princess Bride, popularized the word inconceivable. Those who have seen the film know exactly what I’m talking about. In reality, this is a word I rarely use. Yet this adjective  came to mind yesterday while I was walking along Sunset Dunes Park in San Francisco. (Yes, I was there again!) As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog post, this park, which parallels Ocean Beach in The City, offers spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean. To walk from one end of the park to the other, or simply to stand and look out over the vast body of water, is a sacred experience for me. It reminds me of the Gerard Manley Hopkins quote, “The world is charged with the grandeur of God.”

I was embracing a strong feeling of gratitude yesterday when I had a strange thought. How many Americans have never seen an ocean? My childhood home in The City was located just ten short blocks from Ocean Beach. Sadly, in the first eighteen year of my life, prior to moving to the South Bay for college, I took the ocean for granted. Rarely would I venture down to appreciate the gift that was right there. In fact, I was in my 50’s before I truly developed a sense of appreciation and gratitude for my proximity to the Pacific Ocean.

I recall driving through Nebraska and Iowa on Interstate 80 in the summer of 1980. For miles and miles, all I saw was cornfields on both sides of the highway. I’m grateful for the crops grown in the midwest, but I can’t help but wonder how many people in those states have never had the opportunity to look out over the Pacific Ocean or watch the never-ending parade of waves crashing onto the shore. I wonder how many have never been able to savor the view of the sun reflecting off the water as it sets on the horizon.

It’s inconceivable to me that so many people have never had these experiences. And these gifts of nature are, most likely, inconceivable to anyone who has never had the opportunity to experience them. 

Having lived in the South Bay for more than fifty years, I have developed a strong appreciation for the ocean and my proximity to it. As Jacques Cousteau wrote, “The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.”