Oh Endless Day

Katie D.

January 7, 2012 - 7:31 PM

"Oh endless day, show me the ocean: when shall I see the sea?"

-- James Taylor

This is one of the many lines which runs through my head each time I head for the Oregon coast. It's a strange thing, but the road over the Coast Range of small mountains, and past all the glorious mossy tree trunks and small streams is associated with all these sweet and plaintive songs about the ocean.

In past years, I have made a daytrip to the coast an essential part of every academic term. I've been on the coast as part of celebrations and family outings, in storms and wind and sun, and in the middle of the night. I could spend an entire afternoon just walking and looking at the sand, listening to the waves. I love the quality of light on the coast, and the way the water erodes patterns into the shore. I can't believe I lived so much of my life in a landlocked state, paddling in the chlorinated neighborhood pool and dreaming of surf and tide pools and choral reefs.

When my friend Lexi invited me to the beach for the afternoon, I realized that the last time I saw the ocean I was in Costa Rica. My last day at the Oregon coast was well over six months ago, possibly all the way back in May or early June. I know the beach to be the luxury and blessing it is. I also know that these opportunities are not to be squandered.

We could not have had a more beautiful day on the coast. It was sunny, with no wind. We watched the sun go down over the sand dunes outside Florence. The moonrise was shockingly beautiful, and the sunset was appropriately spectacular. We wandered in the dunes and searched for unbroken sand dollars.

It was a beautiful, beautiful day.

The ocean was one of the key deciding factors in my original decision to come to the University of Oregon. There's a great picture of me as a junior in high school, with my nearly three feet of hair streaming (and becoming hopelessly tangled) in the wind off the Oregon surf. I wanted to be near water, and all the natural beauty implied by the climate, geography, and landscapes of this wonderful state. After the snowstorm in Colorado I've gotten a bit nostalgic for the snow and Rocky Mountains of my Colorado home. But then I cross the Coastal Range and see the way lichen and mosses gather on the deciduous trees, and I feel so impossibly in love with this place.

Plus there was fog for our journey back. Call me crazy, but I think fog is just about the coolest weather on the books.

As usual at this time of year, I feel the pull to make commitments and goals for myself in the coming year. But everything will be changing so quickly between now and June, and again as my adventures in Ireland begin. So maybe I'll make a resolution for these last few months at the UO: take advantage of the reasons you came here in the first place. I'm here for the ocean, for the Craft Center, the mountains and activists and guest lecturers. I'm here for concerts and food in Portland, and the Outdoor Program on campus. I'm here because of great places like Roma and Café Yumm and Beppe and Giani's Italian Restaurant.

I'm here because an hour's drive brings me out to the spectacular dunes and views. Because the ocean is waiting, rolling in and rolling out.

I have a resolution to be present. For now, that means present in my beloved Oregon.

Take a breath, and let the adventures begin again.