I don’t know what it is about the sea. I don’t know why it reaches out to us and grabs us and pulls us in so completely.
All I know is that every time I smell the salt smell of the ocean breeze, my lungs feel more open. My heart feels stronger. I can feel the blood moving in my veins.
I feel more myself when I am in the ocean’s arms.
When I see a gull, swooping out over the rolling waves, I almost believe for a moment that I too can soar away as far as the winds can carry me. I almost believe that I can be that free, just for a little while.
It doesn’t matter what beach or coast I am on when I find myself in a spot where I can see the ocean at last. As long as I can touch my lips with the tip of my tongue and taste the briny tang of salt and seaweed, I am home.
The ocean in winter is spectacular. Cold and so sharp. The beautiful gray of the water merges with the icy gray of the clouds. A study in monochromatic beauty. I wish so much that I could live in a place where I’d see the ocean racing in every winter day.
But the ocean in summer, on a sweet July evening, in a place where the blue ocean meets the crystal sands. Nothing in life is more alluring to me than that. The spiky shards of beach grass poking up through the white sand, the restless movement of the dunes. The incredible sight of a sailboat passing in the twilight. Almost too pretty to be real!
I would give anything I have to one day live in a place where I could watch that motion every single day.
Ah, but if wishes were horses……..
For now, I will have to content myself with occasional days at the beach with friends, walking in the surf, watching the gulls, finding sand dollars, daring each other to dunk in the freezing waters of high tide.
For now, I will count myself lucky to live as close to the Atlantic as I do.
For now, I’ll have to keep dreaming of one day owning that beach house.
Empty Nest, Full Life 
You know, it’s never too late to get that beach house. 🙂 or just find a retirement home to live in by the ocean. There’s a few up in Maine. Ones even on an isolated island out in Portland harbor… Yes I saw an ad for it when I was there last weekend. Haha!
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Yeah, but honey, it has to be in my budget! Which means “smaller than a doghouse”!!!!!
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Build a tiny house 😉 haha and camp off of my parents land. Haha
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What is life without dreams?
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You are, as always, right…..
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Keep the dream alive. I’d relegated my dreams of living by the sea to the realms of fantasy – until I said ‘what the hell’ and did it. Haven’t regretted it for a minute. In fact I’m Sydney at the moment, already wishing I could go home.
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I grew up within a short walk to the beach. There is nothing like it — especially the smells.
A few years ago, my husband and I bought a tiny place on the ocean in Maine. We don’t get there as often as we’d like, but life is good when we do …
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That is exactly my dream…..! I little house on the coast…..I guess you never know; it could happen!
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My feelings exactly. The ocean is where I feel at home.
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Do you live close to the coast? That’s my dream. When we moved from suburban Boston into Central Mass, one of the things I missed was the smell of the easterly wind.
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It’s where we come from.
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When I’m at the beach, I feel almost…normal.
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