5 – Sand

Click the video above for 2 minutes of background waves while reading.

I like walking on the beach. It is good for the body, mind, and soul – and refreshing on my feet.

I want to feel the sand on my feet – the caresses of water – the sun on my skin – the breezes on our face – but it starts with the sand because it signifies the place. The sand here is fine, soft, and whitish. Simply one of nature’s sugars under my feet and between my toes.

I prefer walking close to the water where the sand is smooth and tightly packed – especially around the time of low tide. Moving is much easier here than in the loose, dry sand away from the water or in the occasional quicksand-like sludge where each step is a forceful slog.

While I walk, the grains of sand cleanse my soles of loose skin. I see all that sand ahead of me, and who knows how far down and out to sea it goes. All that sand here on this coast – and along many coasts around this gulf – but also along the waters across the globe. Then add all the desert sands. Oh my my – so much sand.

All that sand – the subject of philosophical moorings and bountiful metaphors. Yes – sand has very deep meanings.

All those grains of sand moving through the hourglass of time that serves as a metaphor for the constantly changing beach. Each wave washing ashore slightly alters the landscape. So does the water through its changing tides. So do the winds of the day or a storm. Let alone the winds and waters of hurricanes and typhoons that alter the land.

The sand I see is its great hourglass of time. As for my hourglass, I can only see the sand in the bottom.

All that sand – moving with the wind – sometimes stinging my skin, but always shifting the dunes. I wonder about the stories the dunes could tell.

All that sand – those abrasive grains of silicon dioxide from many years of erosion. The grains that differ in size from beach to beach. The grains with bits of shells, corals, and different rocks joining together to form the beach’s color palette. Not only from white to grays to browns, but also the reds, blacks, greens, pinks, and oranges. These are the sands that refresh the feet of the world.

All that sand – places where messages are written. Human words indicating one’s presence or commitment to another. Nature’s words through the story of many shells and other remnants.

All that sand – the hardened material of sandstone – a rock found in the hills of my hometown located along the outside bend of a river. Rocks collect along its banks as the sand accumulates along the inner banks on the opposite shore of the river’s big bend.

Sand is in an eternal partnership with stones, rocks, and mountains. Peebles as fetal sand – sand to be. Sand – the grainy composite of beaches, dunes, deserts, stone, hills, and mountains of the world.

All that sand – one the foundation materials of concrete, mortar, and glass. Sand, the preference of plants desiring dryness aided by sand’s porosity. Sand for cleaning, polishing, and filtering in both natural and human processes. The same sand cleansing my soles as I walk.

All that sand – the place where couples walk hand and hand as they make the beach the sands of love.

All that sand – while we encounter difficulties in building sandcastles, sand is a strong underlayment for numerous construction projects.

All that sand – the place capturing footprints as proof of our presence. Footprints that waves may quickly wash away. Footprints that tides will remove. Footprints that strong winds erase to wipe the surface clean.

All that sand – places where wars and battles have been fought. I think of the beaches of Normandy. A past place of terror for soldiers – but today a place of calm, silence, honor, reverence, and even play. A place to watch others enjoy is the reason legions of soldiers fought the battle.

All that sand – the place where one stands to dream. Dream as water crashes ashore and washes across the dreamer’s feet. The same water moves the sand where I stand while my feet sink. The same Sand that can send tingles through the body. The same sand that calms the soul.

All that sand – yet I wonder if one grain of sand and its smallness represents me in a vast universe. A grain of sand represents me in the large sand pile of eternity. After all, my time is comparatively short – very short – yet the collective of individual grains of people through time profoundly impacts humanity.

All that sand – constantly moving grains of time scrubbing my soul as my mind thinks to make connections in a great creation – which are also thoughts that cleanse my soul as the water refreshes my feet.

After many days of walking the beach, my feet have a sense of renewal along with a sight tenderness resembling a light fire. But, those soles are not red because they are clean – yet the entirety of me is fresh and relaxed, which is why I like walking on the beach – a walk that is good for the mind, body, and soul – and refreshing on my feet.

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Next Walk: Waves – Saturday 7 November @ 1 AM (Eastern US)