On this particular day I got on a train. I wasn't entirely sure where I was going but I knew I wanted to break away. I transferred around the trains a few times and part of the intrigue was that I didn't always know where I was going but I knew I wasn't lost. The trains shuffled me around and then I was above ground as the train made stops every few minutes. When you get into the subway you feel like a sardine in a tuna can, your practically making out with the person next to you. Then as you get further away from the city the people slowly dissipate and eventually you are the only one left. The train took me to the very last stop, over an hour out of the city.
There it was. Massive and beautiful and without having a map the inner compass brought me to it. I stood on the edge as the cold waves reminded me that winter really didn't get its fair chance this year. In this moment of peace I started to understand more clearly the journey I had been on and how simple life is outside of it. I love what New York can do but I love the simple things more perhaps that's the Minnesota girl in me. The sand was so warm and inviting and it took me about 2 miles along the coast barefoot to realize that hours had passed. There was no concept of time in this place, it was just that peaceful and beautiful that you completely became it and didn't want it to go away.
We all know that sound, we can hear it even when we are nowhere close to the sea. The crashing consistent waves and seagulls flying overhead. The way the ocean makes you feel so small because nature is so massive and perfect. At times the wind would pick up and create a sandstorm right in front of me, it looked like a desert. I was covered in sand and rode the train back that way. The ocean didn't want to let me go and I could have slept on the beach that day. It was a perfect reminder to not get caught up in how massive NYC is and to always value the simple things in life. This town is all man-made but the things I love in this world are not, they are real and mystical and offer such insight if you quiet yourself long enough to hear the answer.
