Abbotts Beach Tidal Flow

We make our way, splashing in rain boots along flooded trails, to the ocean. Fierce winds rapidly rearrange dramatic patterns in a palette of stratocumulus clouds painted across the sky. Nikki and I can barely hear each other as we shout into the wind traipsing across dunes that sandblast our skin. Often we turn and walk backwards into the wind for protection, angling toward the sea. Lagoon flow roils to the sea as waves crash just beyond the shore in rows of turmoil. The roar is spectacular, the churning serves up rows of seafoam that blows into bits scudding across the sand. The squalls are literally breathtaking. I scan from cliff to cliff framing open ocean to the north and south, reminded of the dichotomy of shores that have been traversed in our family this week. My stepfather, Theodore Wiegand Hummel, after 88 years died in his sleep this past Tuesday. Nearly 12 hours later, Finnegan James Barry, came into the world,… great grandfather and great grandson flowing upon the cosmic tides, traveling in opposite directions. I stand on this shore, arms wide to the energy of life flowing in both directions at once, awash in appreciation for the cycles of life and death, alive with emotions of grief and joy swirling on the tides of every life.