This couple just cannot seem to get enough of the ocean!  We set out this time to check out the Petrified Trees in the ocean at Neskowin.  However the tide was in and  after a brief stop we headed back down the beach stopping at numerous places along the way.  The weather was perfect with temps in the 60s!  Amazing for so late in the year.    

 

On one of our previous trips my hubby had carved our names in the sand bank.

We were so suprised to find it still there!

I just don't think there is any place on earth as breathtaking and beautiful as the ocean!  

I needed this get away as my work has been pretty demanding of late as Bonaventure sold off numerous communities and Southern Hills was one of them.  It is all good as we are being managed by Prestige Senior Living as of December 1st.  Both are good companies and I will miss the Bonaventure family, but change happens and I have learned to go with the flow.  Getting everything prepared for a new ownership is a daunting task however!  I am familiar with Prestige as they started in Pendleton where I lived years ago, my grandmother stayed in one of their skilled nursing facilities, my daughter worked for them, and my girls attended a bible study at the owner's home.  Small world indeed.

Maybe what I love so much about the ocean is how closely it mirrors our lives.  The ebb and flow of my life has been a story of high and low tides (times).  But through it all there is a pattern, a consistency and continuity, when looked at as a whole.  The day to day stuff never seems to fit any pattern or consistency, but when reflected back upon and viewed as a whole, I see a pattern emerge.  I see that I have grown as I have learned to accept who I am which returns me to the child I was.  My inner compass never changed, I just had to learn to listen, accept, and follow my innate self; the self that God designed and determined before I was born.  When I fought the tide I found myself floundering and often felt I was drowning.  Now I know to breath deep, relax, and trust the tide to carry me in the direction that is my authentic path.  Not always easy, but I keep on trying.

Patricia