My True Love

I have one true love. No, it is not the love for a man. Yes, I love my son - he has a place in my heart that nobody else will ever have access to - but my one true love isn't even human. My one true love is...the ocean. The deep blue. The briny deep. Most of my life I have held a profound fascination for the great blue ocean. I don't recall how old I was when I first read about or was told about the ocean, but from that moment on I've been mesmerized. Everything about the ocean amazes me. The millions of creatures, the cycle of the tides, the different currents, how absolutely enormous it is...everything.




I have only been to the ocean three times in my 28 (almost 29) years. Only three times?! That is just sad. The ocean is where I am meant to be. Period. I am in love with it and always will be. When I am on, near, or in the ocean I am at peace and I am happy.


Last week when I was on vacation in Florida it was my third time seeing the ocean. I spent a lot of time on the beach near our condo, staring out at the blue expanse, letting the salty breeze blow through my hair, and listening to the waves crash. So peaceful. I even braved the 54-56 degree water one day. My sisters and I drove to Flagler Beach, I slipped into my wetsuit (a shorty - my legs and arms were bare), and waded about chest deep into the water. I didn't go under and actually swim, but by the time I was done frolicking in the water I was wet from head to toe due to the many waves. It felt great. I could have played in the waves all day, but we had other things to do.

I have always wanted to get a picture of the inside of a wave, aka, the curl. It is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Maybe it would be easier at a location where the waves get a little larger. Maybe someday I'll find out. As for now, I'm impatiently awaiting my next encounter with my one true love.






"I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky; and all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by." ~ John Edward Masefield

True Love

I have never really been a big fan of marriage. Yeah, yeah, when I was a little girl I dreamed of the day I would marry that perfect man in a perfect ceremony wearing the perfect dress, but I grew up and the realizations of marriage came crashing down. It seemed like everywhere I turned people were getting divorces, someone was cheating on their "significant other", etc. After seeing many of those situations I decided I wanted nothing to do with marriage. All I could think was, "What's the point? A majority of people now days are divorcee's or headed in that direction and I don't want to end up like that." I knew that not all marriages were that bad off and I also knew that it wasn't necessarily destined to happen to me, but why take the chance? The last thing I want is to end up as a statistic.

So, I have been living my adult life pretty much avoiding marriage. I was engaged once, right out of high school, but I ended that relationship 1 1/2 years and one baby later. I was only 19...what did I know about love? Since then I have been in a few relationships (a couple have been fairly serious), but I managed to keep them more on the casual side of things.

OK, so you're probably wondering where the heck I'm going with this. Well, at the beginning of the month some friends of mine renewed their vows. They have been married for some 20 odd years (I'm thinking 22, but I can't remember for sure...terrible memory). Anyway, it is quite unusual this day in age to find a couple who has been married for more than 20 years (there are the old couples who have been married for 40 years or more, but I'm talking couples who were married within the last 30 years, not 60-70). My friends are obviously still very much in love with each other and it's just so awesome!

After watching my friends renew their vows, I decided that maybe marriage isn't so bad after all. No, I'm not going to go out and get married right away, but now I wouldn't mind finding my true love and settling down. I wouldn't mind finding that perfect man...the one who will still have love in his eyes when he looks at me after 20, 30, 40, 50, or even 60 years of marriage, the one who will make my heart skip a beat every time I see him (or almost every time), the one who wants to spend the rest of his life with me and who I want to spend the rest of my life with.

My mom always told me I just haven't found the right guy yet, and now I know she's right. I'm still going to be cautious with any relationship I find myself in and, who knows, maybe "Mr. Right" will come along (maybe I've already found him and just haven't realized it). If so, then great, if not, then... whatever.

Here are some pictures of the vow renewal...just look at how in love they are. They were definitely meant for each other. Oh, and yes, they are Irish. :)
"Love is energy: it can neither be created nor destroyed. It just is and always will be, giving meaning to life and direction to goodness...Love will never die." ~ Bryce Courtney

"True love is eternal, infinite, and always like itself. It is equal and pure, without violent demonstrations; it is seen with white hairs and is always young in the heart." ~ Honore de Balzac