Haven

The sun has set into the rugged hills to the north. The wind begins to die away and the trees find their rest. The warmth of the day still clings to the expanses of rocky shoreline, but a chill from the miles and miles of sea comes to bring release from the heat’s afternoon reign. I sit alone on the rocks, curled into a little ball, hiding as much surface area as I can from browsing mosquitoes. A new hatching of dragonflies makes my precautions hardly necessary; they patrol and dive and capture the worst of the pests. I like dragonflies.

The sea has turned a placid indigo, hung with a sky of pastel clouds. How magnificent it is. I want to take it all in, but my heart is such a small thing to carry the weight of so great a beauty. Trying to make it work is painful.

The most healing week of the year is drawing to a close. “Time it was and what a time it was.” A time of wide-eyed joy and open-armed acceptance. Of living free and honest, barefooted and sunsoaked. Of laughter and exploration and discovery. Of questioning and answering things we’ll never fully understand. Of marveling at the farthest stars and the tiniest agates. Of throwing off the barriers and plunging into chilly Superior, feeling the playful waters exchange my body heat for euphoria. A time of mending.

A neighbor at the cabin reflected on how necessary it is for the soul to drink in beauty during trying times. Up on Superior’s shores, the cares of the world remain far away. Not even the tumult, tension, and terror that’s happened in our world this summer is dark enough to reach this far and infect this haven. We forget the strife and find the remedy for it.

During this week of peace, of family, of leaving the phone in the cupboard and watching the sun rise and set, I feel the deep revival of being surrounded by genuine love and beauty. It’s a wonderful thing, a healthy thing. Something to seek and to cherish and to celebrate.

I sit on the same shoreline that I did when I was a child, under the same trees, looking out at the same distant horizon. All around me are new joys, new love, new life. I watch the dragonflies rejoice and the waves roll in. I hear my parents chatting happily on the deck. The first star makes its quiet appearance in the sky. All is well.