Going north for summer is on our minds a lot. We won’t be leaving for a couple of weeks but we are thinking about things we want to do one more time before we leave. We will probably go to the beach a few more times, but that was my state of mind when I suggested we go to the beach for the sunset.

It was quiet and gentle on the beach, probably because we decided to park several blocks from the pier. Most of our trips to the beach this year were to the pier – taking visitors  to see the sunset and hopefully some dolphins. The pier is a popular place during the winter high season with people coming to fish, see the sunset, and get a different view of the gulf shoreline in Naples. The whole length of Naples shoreline has public access which makes it great for walking, but most were there for the sunset.

On this evening there were a few walkers, and even a few young men practicing their surf boarding…

most of the time taking a crashing tumble as they left the crest of the wave. Each time they did, my body responded with a groan and a shudder – probably because I was riding the waves with them and I could feel my aging body being jarred into a long period of painful recovery. They came up shaking the water from their hair and laughing – eager to try again. We made a win-win duo. They experienced the exhilaration of the being that comes from doing and I had the joy of the vicarious experience without pain.

I also experienced the joy and peace of a less-than-spectacular sunset. This was one of those sunsets that makes the world gentle and delicate.

We walked along the low-tide shoreline watching the water press earthward in long slow sweeps.

We held hands, wanting to absorb this world of ours that seems so common and natural now, but will be left in a couple of weeks for a world that is vastly different.

How strange that I find myself escaping our caustic and scary politics into the gentle world of surf and sunset, and later into dirt roads with freshly plowed fields and budding leaves of spring, only to find myself disturbed by the thought that the current administration has no concern about how undoing environmental protections in the name of bringing back jobs and making more profits for businesses will cause destruction to the environment that have long-lasting effects. There no longer is an attempt to balance progress (making money) with protecting our planet – and we will be the losers. With some mature brain-power I bet we could create jobs with the goal of finding ways of meeting the needs of nature – human and environmental. We need to understand that humans are a part of the environment, not separate from it.  It is inevitable that we will experience the same fate as the environment. If we destroy the environment there won’t be anywhere to escape to, for pleasure… or life.