Saturday, February 24, 2007

Dana Point and the Temple


Last night P. and I went to the Newport Beach temple, and it's rapidly becoming one of my favorites, mainly because of the beautiful mural in the main endowment room. It's of a California beach; the audience sits with cliffs of warm yellow rock rising to their backs, looking out over a calm sea. The tops of the cliffs curve around to either side, embracing us, and their tops are covered with thick deserty grasses and a few terraced trees. There are pelicans and otters playing on the beach, and to the left, three birds are taking flight towards the sea; to the right, four or five are landing. It is sunrise behind us, and some of the beach and the crevices in the rocks are still in shadow.

Not long before we first visited this temple, P. and I went with Dangerboy to Strands Beach at Dana Point. we walked all the way to the end of the beach where the rocks curved around to the right, where there was nobody but us swimming (and some very focused surfers). While P. watched DB, I waded out into the surf to play in the waves. I soon realized, though, that I didn't know how. I kept trying to stand my ground against them, and kept getting pummelled into the sand (eating it, once, I think). Then I remembered something from my childhood--to have fun in the waves, you have to move with them; when a big wave comes, you have to jump at just the right moment, or else dive right into the heart of it, and you'll be fine. Better than fine; you'll feel the wave roll right over your back, from your head to the soles of your feet. Discovering this skill of taming quite a destructive force of nature, I played in the waves joyfully by myself for a while.

A few times in my life, I've had physical experiences that come close to being spiritual as well, and my Dana Point experience was one of them. At these times I feel clean, alone with a higher power, and enlightened. On a good day, I feel like this in the temple. So the Newport Beach endowment room mural reminds me of this. (It also reminds me of when I was pregnant and P. and I took a road trip to Monterey, etc. Also a rather spiritual experience).

So, Dangerboy: Loves to get into things! I found him hiding under the computer desk digging his finger into my lip gloss. And I left him alone with the sorted (yes, dirty) laundry today and came back to a little white ghost--a garment top looped around his neck, and a garment bottom worn as a flowing hat. Boy, that kid loves laundry.


(The picture is from the Dana Point Chamber of Commerce website.)

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