When I was younger we spent almost every warm holiday at the family beach house. Every available moment of sunlight was spent at the beach. All eleven grandchildren and plenty of chaperones would make their way to our claimed patch of sand. With shovels, boogie boards, and cokes in hand we would lay down the mats and get ready to burn. Some of my favorite moments occurred out in the water as we prepared to body surf the “mighty” waves that hit the coast of Texas. We would wade out into waist deep water, sometimes higher and then begin our waiting. Some would dive into any and every wave  to come along, only going a few feet towards shore. But if you waited for the BIG ONE and then took that plunge, you were rewarded with sometimes up to twenty seconds of a thrilling ride. The undertow and power of the surge would pull and push you toward any destination they chose.

My fear was always missing the BIG ONE.   I would bypass the hundreds in search of perfection. I’m not sure what the perfect one would have even looked like, but I wanted it.

I still want the BIG ONE. I don’t want to forfeit because I’m not willing to wait.  But I also recognize that it’s hard to go somewhere if you aren’t moving.

“There is no use trying,” said Alice; “one can’t believe impossible things.”

“I dare say you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen.  “Then I was your age I always did it for half an hour a day.  Why, sometimes, I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

-Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Here’s to doing and believing impossible things before breakfast. Here’s to being still AND to catching the big wave. Stagnation, contentment, and peace are not the same thing. More to come.

Following,
Ginger