May Prayer Flag - Beach time

I took my first ever trip to the Florida Gulf this month. A vacation with women friends. I cannot describe how wonderful and needed it was for me! I have not been to the beach in five years. In my second year of living in Middle Tennessee I realized how much I had taken easy access to a beach for granted. I grew up going to Rockaway Beach in Queens, NY and a few of the Long Island beaches. When I lived in Connecticut, there were several beaches nearby on Long Island Sound to visit. Visit and explore, I did! The ability to go the beach whenever I wanted is something I took for granted my entire life. Until I moved here. (I wrote about this in September 2021.)  

 The colors of the Gulf of Mexico as viewed from the Florida Panhandle are breathtaking! All I wanted to do was immerse myself in those colors! I had one day in which to do that. The water was calm enough to go in up to my shoulders. I spent several hours enjoying the feeling of the buoyant saltwater washing over me. I watched as a strip of lime green water approached, then turned sea-glass blue before reaching me. The strip of Viridian green water remained in the distance. A red flag flew on the other days, warning of strong rip currents. On those, I took walks along the edge of the water and sat under an umbrella soaking up the view as best as I could. I wanted it to be ingrained in my memory.

 The feeling of being immersed in these colors stayed with me for several days when I returned home. I did not want to let them go for fear of losing the bliss of the experience. Yet I knew I must return and be present to the life I have. I chose to create my May Prayer Flag to commemorate this experience.

Hanging in the garden with the other prayer flags, it is a tangible reminder of all the many places I can find beauty and bliss.