Posted on by Jessica Dofflemyer

Babies in Big Bodies

photo by Jessica Dofflemyer - all rights reserved

I’m gifted a one hour window at the end of my day to throw off emails and throw on a pair of shorts.  Make a quick drive down to the beach and get a short walk in.

My mind is craving freedom.  The kind where I can let thoughts move and sift on salt air and sea breeze.  Bare feet can sink in sand.  My eyes can take in a distant horizon and remember what it is that holds me.  Feel the tangible presence of earth and wind and water.

There are others on this quest as well.  As I move along the shore toward the middle span of beach, the smattering of bodies increases.  Lawn chairs, towels, beach blankets and some coolers.  Visitors are here escaping colder January climes.  I walk through a quiet maze of humans scattered in their special little places.

Some lie upon their sides, just gazing at the ocean.  Others read a book.  Some couples curl and cuddle up together.  Grown men wade in shallow waters.  Swimmers tread a little farther out from shore.

How I love to see these people all relaxing!  Like babies in big bodies, we’re just soaking up the simple.  Happy just to be.  Pale skin seeks sunlight.  Ahhh!  Cell phones are put away.  A large man just sits, his legs stretched out before him, doing nothing but looking at the waves.  To see him in such a peaceful, child-like state fills my heart with gladness.

Not far from this beach (just down the road) adults zoom fast in big cars.  They schedule appointments, send text messages and make important calls.  But down here by the water, the grown ups are on hiatus, just sitting in the sun.

Can we do this everyday?

Posted on by Jessica Dofflemyer · 2 Comments

Roots

photo by Jessica Dofflemyer - all rights reserved

In Sunday morning light a solitary root stretches long across the sand.  Sun bleached and long-since functioning, it’s still heavy and unmoving.

Tracing the root to the source, I stand beneath a thriving canopy with exposed roots as tall as me.  For years the tides have come and slowly eroded the earth they held.  Salt and splash, lots of time, and now that sturdy system is laid bare.  Surely the smooth and aged wood no longer feeds it, but the tree grows on somehow.  Old-time roots are its foundation.

The thick and twisted tendrils create a natural root cave.  Jeb can climb through the web of wood just like a jungle gym.  No longer steeping in dark loam and worms, these roots now bake in sun.  Fallen leaves meet their surface.

photo by Jessica Dofflemyer - all rights reserved

A  white,  jagged specimen of corral nestles tightly in a notch just like an alter.  A reminder of the elements that shaped this situation.  Many, many moon cycles.  Water, sand and wind.

Roots remain, the tree’s still growing.  Folks with lawn chairs come for respite in their shade.  Small feet and hands explore the woven patterns.

A loving mystic once said, “When you are seeking the answer to a question, look to a tree.”

 

Posted on by Jessica Dofflemyer

Steeping in an Essence

This morning I look for a thread, some simple, single thing to share.  But all are snippets.

Fresh sheets on the bed.
Jeb’s first sunflower bloom at sunrise.
Anais Nin and Henry Miller.
Archival storage boxes.
The Paris Writer’s Workshop.
Fresh-cut canvases and thick, white oil paint.
Art’s essence and time travel.
Is the time machine our heart?

The grainy picture of that distant, remote island.  Ten years before my digital camera.

photo by Jessica Dofflemyer - all rights reserved

I lived in that place.  Among swans that floated on ice blue waters.  A street called Morningside along a waterfall to the sea.  Purple starfish clung to ocean bottoms while Bald Eagles’ mated,  free falling from the sky.  Thick green moss on ancient tree trunks were velvet thrones in a seaside forest.  And then there was the love.

Full French in rolling sweetness. Je t’aime in loving arms.

In the fairy land we weren’t afraid to take our hearts and just pull them from our bodies.  Hold them in our hands beneath the stars.  Gaze into each other’s eyes and seek there freely.  Fumble through discovery.  Lay down in the leaves.  Wonder at connection.  Trust in the magic all around.