we always try to take a walk on the beach at the end of the year.
something about the bracing winds coming off the north sea have a clearing effect on the mind and the senses.
recent storms made the beach different. covered in bits of detritus and debris, but no stones.
nature has a way of arranging these things, even bits of string and trash and shell and bone, more artfully than we humans ever could.
i took that heart-shaped bit of wood with me. in lieu of stones, it was the best i could do and i had to have some memento of the trip.
the wind was cold and strong and we didn't stay long, just long enough for it to blow any residual troubles and cares out of our heads.
the bits and pieces of the year, floating in, like so much flotsam and jetsam. quite literally.
the last, remaining carcasses of 2013, left strewn on the beach. undoubtedly to be washed away by the next tides.
leaving us a fresh, clean slate from which to start 2014.
and begin it all over again, gathering the bits and pieces that form our memories and our lives.
tangling it all up, mixing it together, and hopefully leaving something beautiful behind.
