Only Seven!

At the end of the work day, Wednesday, I was experiencing a machine-like weariness; disconnected from myself, and from everyone else. Nothing seemed to be flowing easily. On the way home, I was after what I thought was a simple thing; to pick up a carton of eggs from one of the nearby farms.

I realized I didn’t have any cash on me. When I found some cash, the farm we went to was out of eggs. George suggested we head to the beach instead, for the sunset. Great idea! We swung by the house, where I grabbed a sweater, filled our water bottles and grabbed a bag of pistachios, rice crackers and a jar of artichoke dip. We arrived just as the sun was turning the sky a beautiful mix of gray and apricot. I noticed what looked like 100 tiny black sticks coming out of the sand at the edge of the surf. When we got closer, the ”sticks“ became sandpipers enjoying the dinner that the receding tide was offering. We were surprised how close they allowed us. Then, in one magnificent moment, all at once, they lifted into a beautiful dance, completely in sync and moving together. Watching this for more than a half hour, and I captured one of the moments in the above video. The beauty of this moment softened everything inside and reconnected me to “something”; the part of me that might also move like that. The science of murmuration says that each bird need only keep seven others in its awareness to move well with the whole murmuration of hundreds...... Only 7 !!!!