A LESSON IN DEVOTION...
...or, if dogs could talk, we could learn a lot... 
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One day a couple of years ago, while walking on the beach, I saw a dog, which isn't unusual out here, except that this particular dog didn't seem to be with anyone. It would lay on the beach for a while, pace back and forth, looking seaward; occasionally it would approach a beach-walker, such as me, looking for a pat or two on the head, and I must admit, I'm 'easy' when it comes to giving a dog a good hearty head-scratch. That's one of the cool things about beach-walking; meeting the dogs and their owners. It's an easy situation in which to strike up a conversation.
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I spent quite a lot of time watching this particular dog; it wasn't fetching or chasing a tennis ball or any of the other dogs do; it just paced back and forth along one section of beach, looking for somebody or something out there in the water. Obviously the dog was in some kind of distress, although it looked perfectly well to me...and then I figured it out...I saw a surfer come in, with surfboard; he'd had enough of the waves pounding his brain, and the dog was so happy to see his person. And I thought, "what a cool relationship this is".
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Fast-forward to a little over a week ago; I was sitting in the sand, surrounded by beach grass, ready for Mother Nature to lay another gorgeous sunset on me, and there was that dog again. You can see it standing near the waves, while The Surfer paddles out to face a few more waves. Actually, it doesn't seem to take a lot of 'wave' to get a pretty good ride. Me, I can barely keep my balance on dry land!


I wanted to provide some contrast in this photo, and this picture might have achieved that...in the background, you can see some fairly big lumps of stone about half-a-mile away, and in the foreground, is Mr. Surfer, at the end of another wave. And even though those waves look small, they're fairly big when you're out in the middle of them. And I'm sure the water's cold too.

After pacing up and down the beach for a long, long time, finally Mr. Surfer had enough cold, hard-hitting salt water and came in, and there was His Dog, so glad to see him. Every so often, this scene is repeated; the dog gets exercise running up and down the beach, and Mr. Surfer gets his brains pounded out of his skull by Ocean Waves. In the end, they both go home, tired but happy.


That's something I often wonder about...I guess it's called "devotion", and why we, as human beings find it so difficult to be devoted to someone else. I've often wondered about married couples...when they first meet each other, How Do They Know that they want to be together for the rest of their lives? And what happens after that, when one or the other meets someone else who "fits" them better, and how does one not feel guilt toward their partner for even thinking that? If I knew, I'd be in a relationship by now. But I've always felt I'd just let my partner down if I saw someone I liked better.
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But wondering about such things becomes a moot point after a while. The cool ocean breeze, together with a darkening sky, is always a relaxing time of day for me. It's as if Mother Nature is saying, "evening's come now, time to slow down and seek refuge in your place of comfort". So, here is the sunset that night, taken as the temperatures began to drop. A beautiful sight. Comforting too.

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I suppose one can wonder about a whole lot of things that don't do a whole lot of good. I've certainly had my share of doing that. What do I do about it? I find an evening that looks a whole lot like this one did, and it's off to the beach. It Always Works. It always brings me back to the "now"...at least for a while anyway...