Today, I am missing the sea...so I am going to rely on some lyrics from Stevie Nicks...she is such a musical poet...and I do feel driven, like a magnet, to the sea.

Do you always trust your first initial feeling
Special knowledge holds truth bears believing
I turned around
And the water was closing all around
Like a glove
Like the love that had finally, finally found me
Then I knew
In the crystalline knowledge of you
Drove me thru the mountains
Thru the crystal-like clear water fountain
Drove me like a magnet
To the sea

How the faces of love have changed turning
the pages
And I have changed oh, but you...you remain
ageless
I turned around
And the water was closing all around
Like a glove
Like the love that had finally, finally found me
Then I knew
In the crystalline knowledge of you
Drove me thru the mountains
Thru the crystal-like clear water fountain
Drove me like a magnet
To the sea

-Stevie Nicks

Every year, we go to Maryland and I get my ocean fix. Then, these past two years, the Caribbean has boosted my mental well being. There is just something about it...the rhythmic waves, loud and crashing and helping to tune the world out, and myself in. The deep varying blues. The sun reflecting off, prismatically. It renews my soul.

I very clearly remember the summer of 1997, when we went on a camping trip to Maine with Jeanne, Bryan, Kathy and Barry. We swam in the ocean in the Kittery area, and I was JUST pregnant with Devin. So "just pregnant," in fact, that I had a couple of Mudslides back at the campsite since I HADN'T ended up pregnant for so many months...what would be the chances that this would be the one? The Counting Crows had the song "Long December" out at the time, and after that trip, when I realized how much I had missed the ocean, and that I hadn't been to the sea in YEARS, the line "It's been so long since I've seen the ocean...I guess I should" hit me like a ton of bricks. Since 1997, I have seen the ocean, each and every year, and I hope to for many, many years to come.