Feels Like Home

I've had my next posting mentally written for over a week now. Maile vs Muni. It was going to be brilliant. And then the past few months took their toll on me. I got sick. I know. Perfect timing, right? Well, I'd kind of been fighting it since early December, so I guess I was due.

Anyhow, today we went exploring. Today we discovered how close we were to the coast. On a clear day, looking past the lake, we thought we could see the waves.

We were right.




The smell of salt water revitalizes me. It makes me feel alive. I feel whole. Complete. Like all is right with the world.

It's been that way as long as I can remember. I was born on an island. A birthplace that I only remember from family folklore. A place I can only recall deep within me. I grew up in a coastal town, spent my childhood and adolescence at the beach. At Big Corona. I would swim so far out in the ocean that people would worry. Lifeguards would swim out to check on me. I spent summers in Hawaii, tumbling with the waves as they crashed over me.

And I wonder, aside from my birthplace, have I ever lived this close to the ocean?

When I think of San Francisco, I don't think of the coast. Sure, I think of the water. The bridges, the wharf, the sea lions. But I don't picture the waves crashing on the sand. I didn't expect to be this close to home.

The Pacific Ocean is home. It connects my birthplace to my childhood. Connects Oahu to Newport. And now it connects those to my adult life, to who I am today. This is my home.

Smelling that salt water, I suddenly feel more at home than I have for over ten years.



2012 is going to be an amazing year.