Footprints on the Irish Sea

If you know me well, you know that I have my own "Footprints" story. Life has had handed me a large share of woes, and I don't expect them to be all over yet either. But it is so good to be away from at least some of them for awhile, the ones I have no control over. A friend had told me right before I flew to this island, "I know you've had a hard year, but once you get on that plane, dance down the aisle and leave it all behind you". Rest and peace have been more than a blessing to me, and I've waited a long time. As I walked down to this pure sea beach in the Derryman area of Ireland, some of the whispers of the mysteries of life unfolded for me. Sometimes we're brought to places in life where we have to run forward and forget the pain and tears behind us like the shore and sea. This place of Ireland has so little pollution it's known for having some of the world's blackest skies. Therefore this area of the sea shore was so clean too. As soon as I was close to the water, I ran reckless down to the water and splashed into the waves. I can never outrun this childish delight; it gets me every time. It was as if the water cleaned off the dirt of the long road I've traveled to get here. The water was clean and cool, but not even as cold as Lake Superior. I splashed some on my face and tasted it on my tongue. For some reason ocean salt water taste always surprises me after living by fresh water all my life. Oftentimes dolphins and sometimes certain whales have swam up to this shore, though I didn't see any. The Irish say that last winter there were such huge storms here that much of the beach as they'd known it was washed away. Considering this, I think the storms of my life have certainly washed away some of my old 'beach' too. And now there is a beautiful new. Untouched sand, I have to make new footprints on the soil of my heart.