I am taking a trip on a sailboat, called Majestic Dream, with my Father. Our journey takes us up the Intercoastal Waterway from Vero Beach, Florida to North East, Delaware on a fourty-seven foot Vagabond. My goal is to look for small miracles along the waterway, a rainbow, a special bird, a dolphin, a human kindness. Little ripples that create the waves of life.
I thought about calling my Blog Water Walker since Jesus said we were all saints and could do what he could do if we believed. I thought it was too presumptuous of a name; made it sound like I thought I walked on water. Feathers Walking seemed to vague to anyone but me. I kept searching.
I believe that our spiritual beliefs, no matter what religion, lead us to ask similar questions and to seek. So please do not wander away, stay and visit with me as I wander the earth seeking God and delighting in the wonder of it all. Einstein showed us that it is through wonder that we learn and create things.
Today doing further research for my new venture into blogworld, in an effort not to get blogged down, I visited a few other Blogs. I discovered Neal Donald Walsch author of HOME WITH GOD in a Life That Never Ends. I read at his blog, http://www.nealedonaldwalsch.com, this excerpt from his book:
"Life is God, made physical. What is important to understand is that there is no single way in which life makes God physical. Some waves are small, barely a ripple, while other waves are huge, thunderous in their sweep. Yet, whether minuscule or monstrous, there is always a wave. There is no time when there is not a wave on the ocean. And while every wave is different, not a single one is divided from the ocean itself. Difference does not mean division. Those words are not interchangeable.You are different from God, but you are not divided from God. The fact that you are not divided from God is why you can never die. The wave lands on the beach, but it does not cease to be. It merely changes form, receding back into the ocean. The ocean does not get "smaller" every time a wave hits the sand. Indeed, the incoming wave demonstrates, and therefore reveals, the ocean's majesty. Then, by receding into the ocean, it restores the ocean's glory. The presence of the wave is evidence of the existence of the ocean. Your presence is evidence of the existence of God. "
I read Neal's metaphor comparing life to an ocean wave. His comment that there is not a time when there is not a wave on the ocean hit home with me. We can be the wave, follow the wave or get out of its way, I mused. I would like to part of the ripples that build the wave by just sharing the wonder of it. Each of you can view it from your own perspective and continue the momentum of the wave. We are all wave walkers. So my Blog is born "Wave Walker". It truly started a few weeks ago in my head. I made a few short notes the day before my train to Chicago and flight to West Palm Beach.
Wave Walker
April 26th, 2006
While contemplating a name for my Blog an errand took me to the shoe repair shop. I had purchased a new pair of sandals and needed a 1/2 lift put in the right shoe. I had been told that any black sole could generally be cut and fitted and still look quiet sensible.
I walked in the shop and quietly waited for the man to out down the shoe he was working on and see what I needed. his back was to me and I could not see what he was working on in particular. I held my sandal in my hand and inquired if this type would work well for the lift process. I asked him if he had had any experience with this brand before, Rockports. He stopped, took the sandal from me and looked bemused. He Said he was about to cut into a sandal just like this momentarily! He walked over to his work table and brought back a brown version of my sandal, tags still on it. He inquired how much I had paid for mine. If I stuck around he would know how well the process would work as he was going to cut into her sandal. I waited. Mine could still be returned if it would not work .I said I would let her shoe be the guinea pig.I walked away wondering about this coincidence. It occurred to me that Jesus wore sandals. I left the shop thinking that God had winked and made the answer about the sandals a simple one. Yes it was the right sandal, the right choice. No more to worry about. Take them on your trip and when you come back have the work done. It also occurred to me that God was blessing this trip with his light and that the sandal incident was just a small taste of the events I would find on my trip that gave evidence of God's presence.
Next Day..4/27/06
Sleeping at end of train ride to Chicago, viewing taupe colored scene with eyes closed. Third eye view. 3 to 5 angels. Faces sculpted against the taupe, heads, detailed relief of nose, cheek bones, strong jaw lines, heads turning, eyes on me. Fading in and out first one then another as if 3 to 5 angels were with me on the train letting me know of their presence as I looked closer each one came more into focus.
Friday 4/28/06
Just passed the "Hole in the Wall Island. Osprey Nests. Watching for red and green markers to plot our path and avoid the rocks. Red right returning except when heading north on Inter coastal then it green on the right. The buoy and marker rules change depending on which direction you are heading. On a channel the red right returning rule would always work but on a waterway or a river it would depend on which way the water was headed.
In our everyday lives we are looking for signals to guide our path. Wouldn't it be great if they were red and green markers along the way. How easy is that?
A dolphin surfaced near the bow today. Camera in hand I climbed out of the cockpit to the deck to get a photo. In my effort to position myself I wasted precious time not really viewing the dolphin. He went below the water and was gone. He must stayed down a long time. I never saw him resurface. I remember thinking I had missed the forest for the trees again. Here was this wonderful dolphin just floating at the bow for me to see and instead of enjoying him I was anxious to get a photo and missed truly seeing him, missed the details of the event. This is just another example of how life happens when we are trying to get ready for it. While it would have been nice to share my first dolphin of the trip with you I basically missed it myself trying. I could say the sacrifice in the effort was worth the gift it would have been had I gotten a great photo I am more inclined to suggest that my experience with the dolphin and how his presence felt to me personally would have been a more meaningful insight than a hurriedly taken snap shot. This is not to say that a great photo cannot tell a story but I was not in a position to take a great photo, not the right spot, not hate right camera for hate moment.
This boat has a lot of teak carved doors and walls. It was originally built for a man who dated an actress with the first initial M. There is an M carved among flowers as part of them main salons decor. I noted this as I was seeking shot for the interior. I thought that M also stands for Miracle. Interestingly, the next overhead carving that runs parallel with the M Carving is of two fire breathing dragons with their flames burning into the sun. The two carvings demonstrate easily the battles we fight on our spiritual paths. Flowers, vines and miracles against dragons threatening to burn away our source. Here they are on the boat with me.
I have not been on this boat since March of 2003. She spends her summers in the Chesapeake by area. My brother keeps and eye on it while my parents enjoy the Michigan golf season and family. Each fall they head back down the inter coastal and cruse the key’s and waterways in Florida and the Bahamas. When I first boarded Majestic Dream this trip I noticed the quiet water through the portal. I think the last time I was here I never even noticed how cool that was to see; like an old movie on a pirate ship.
When I was little, my father would make us "Egg on a raft" for breakfast. I remember toast fried in butter and the egg, yolk still soft cooked in a cut out hole in the netter of the toast as one of the delights of my childhood. Today when my Father asked me how I wanted my eggs I responded in a child like manner that I would like mine cooked in a piece of toast with the middle cut out like he used to do when I was a kid. I laughed out loud as if I was joking because I truly thought it was too much to ask him to do. When my breakfast arrived it was a perfectly golden brown raft of egg and toast. I thanked him several times. It was wonderful that he remembered what it was it was and did not think me silly for asking. I felt loved and special eating that breakfast.
Another one of my favorite childhood hood pass times was sitting up on the front pulpit of our sailboat. Riding the waves it seemed, as the water rushed past. There was always a bit of a thrill knowing you could fall under the boat. No one ever did. Today I went up and walked out the long bowsprit on Majestic Dream and sat on the pulpit, balancing, enjoying the wind on my face and toes -- waiting for a big power boat to come by and rock my world. For those of you who do not sail, the wake from a power boat can be really rock a sail boat. The bow can come up right out of the water and crash down! Yahoo!
Sitting in the cockpit (Yup same name as on a plane) under the shade of the dodger (no relation to baseball; works like an umbrella) chatting, not paying any attention to the water around us for some time, I notice a shadow to my right. The dark, sleek body of a dolphin is quietly swimming along side our boat. I look over and he or she is just 3 feet away from me keeping time up with the boat. This time I watch him and grab my camera at the same time, not taking my eyes away this time. I missed the shot of the close dolphin but snapped a few of his friends swimming 25 or 40 feet away. I can't help wondering if watching Dolphins is like being still and waiting on the Lord. You see more if you are still.
Saturday April 29th 2006
Today I realized that the Intercoastal is like a peaceful river for many miles. It looks a lot like a lake in some places, a lagoon in others. It can be a mangrove, a busy water ski lane, even a high rise heaven, a trailer park or a haven of palatial homes or just a row of regular houses. I also realized the dolphins are elusive. I have decided them come up to breath and then they carry on... Too quick for my camera...
Deepak Chopra and Wayne Dyer wrote about manifesting your own destiny, Einstein wrote the Einstein Podlusky theory or the wave particle duality with Podlusky. They are somewhat similar. Wayne told a story about needing a certain wrench or pliers and then finding them in his driveway where he was certain they had not been. He thanked the Universe. Einstein discussed measuring wave particles. Everything is made of atoms. Atoms are made up of waves and particles. Something can either be a wave or a particle depending on the moment in time that it is measured. This has lead my husband to the simplification regarding the example of the contents of a box being shipped, "Is it a Cat or a violin?" Today I was watching the homes and birds as we cruised north on the waterway. I was thinking that I needed a nail file, an emery board would do. Later I was cooking in the galley. I walked out of the galley across the main salon as I had many times in the last few hours; this time there was an emery board at my feet! Cat or Violin? Manna from heaven? I thanked God and the universe or whatever angel left it there for me. Check out the authors and scientists I have mentioned if you doubt.
