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| A couple seeks sea glass on this blustery, overcast New Year's Day. |
Time marches
on.
“Still round
the corner there may wait, a new road, or a secret gate,” said J. R. R.
Tolkien.
Shortly, Fogland will wear its winter wardrobe of snow and ice; and arctic winds will blow.
Yet come summer,
cars, trucks and trailers will cover this horseshoe-shaped cove; and the shack
will be open for beach passes.
Boaters
towing trailers will wait their turn as they back down the ramp and release
their sail and power boats into the Sakonnet.
Windsurfers
will careen across the waves.
Children
will wade into the water, splashing and screaming with delight.
Dogs will
trot by with their owners.
Colorful
beach towels will resemble an old-fashioned piecework quilt, awaiting the swimmers
return.
Fishermen
will cast from the Point into the swift current, hoping to catch the big one.
This place
will be teeming with life.
But for now,
the beach in January is a blank slate just like a new 2016 calendar with 12 months of empty
pages.
“What we
call the end is also a beginning. The end is where we start from,” said T. S.
Eliot.
We start
over and begin anew.
“What the
new year will bring, we cannot know,” said New England author Gladys Taber. “And I think as
the new year begins, I might well do some pruning in my own life, keeping the
essentials, the real values, and letting go the part that is no longer
contributing to the growing time of my spirit.”
Today as I walk along this Rhode Island beach, I give thanks for the gift of another year. The cold, biting wind ushers me along.
“There are
better things ahead than any we leave behind,” said C. S. Lewis.
We just need
to take the next step.
