Island Living

I chose to live on an island 25 years ago. At first it was an adventurous move but then we started working here and our life was fully engaged in our community. I finally found a sense of place. My place was defined by water. Our line to the mainland was a vessel. 

    Without really planning it, I reached for a dream I had as a teenager. I first saw the ocean when I was sixteen. I felt changed. I seemed to be connected to the ocean somehow. Now I see it often. That is perhaps why  poem by Mary Oliver caught my eye and my heart.

                                                                                     I Go Down To The Shore

I go down to the shore in the morning

and depending on the hour the waves

are rolling in or moving out,

and I say, oh, I am miserable,

and what shall-

what should I do? And the sea says

in it's lovely voice:

Excuse me, I have work to do.

by Mary Oliver