I went for a long walk this past week
early one morning
along the ocean.
I walked and walked and walked…
I passed people walking,
people swimming,
dogs running,
I passed a man surf fishing from the back of his truck.
It was early, and the more I walked
the quieter the beach became…
the emptier it was.
And, I kept walking.
Until I had to turn around.
I didn’t want to… I wanted to just keep going.
But, life called, the day and real life needed to “begin”.
I started my trek back… and eventually,
I got to the fisherman…
“How are they biting?” I said
He looked at me grinning ear to ear,
“It is an amazing morning.
When you walked by earlier I was catching my first one,
and just a moment I caught my second one.”
He was visibly giddy.
“So you are going to have a special feast tonight?”
I suggested, joining in his celebration.
“No man these fish are too small… I throw them back.”
He looked at me again with his kind and satisfied glow…
“I am so happy” he said to me,
or to the universe…
“I am so damn happy!”
His joy was palpable.
It was overflowing… in a peaceful glow.
He seemed like he was in heaven,
in need of nothing different or more in that moment
than life was offering .
I smiled sincerely and offered as I walked away,
“Have a wonderful day!”
Wasted words because he already was…
“Happiness…” I thought…
“It happens from the inside out…”
And, I’m still trying to solve it from the outside in…
It was a lovely walk,
and it’s the gentle, joyful smile
on the fisherman face
that I will remember.
“I am so damn happy.”
His words, the certainty and gratitude they conveyed…
they
moved
me…
in harmony,
Nestor