Sacred dance

This afternoon it was warm and windy. The bay was deep teal crowned with whitecaps as Daisy and I walked toward the public beach. There were few sunbathers or swimmers; scudding clouds and the choppy surf kept the usual crowds away.

As we neared the main part of the beach, I noticed a brace of seagulls riding the offshore winds some 25 feet aloft. They didn't need to flap their wings to stay up; they rode like kites, buoyed by the breeze, so that they appeared stationary. Just below them, a woman – not young – smiled broadly as she waved her outstretched arms toward the floating gulls. She hopped rhythmically from one foot to the other, her face tipped skyward in wonder, her dark limbs and pale-gray tunic rippling in a spontaneous dance of joy.

Oh! To be utterly in the moment like that woman; to dance in the cooling wind; to reach upward toward feathered riders in the sky. She was seeing with fresh eyes what I scarcely notice every single day here at the beach. She exulted!

So should we all. Look up, feel the wind, dance with happiness, say "hooray" for birds and for being alive, say "Amen."

Hooray! Amen.