How to Find the Extraordinary Hidden in Your Everyday Life
There is wonder in every daily occurrence
I have never seen this sunset before.
This is the thought that bursts into my mind with such explosive force that it momentarily mutes all the thoughts, voices, and conversations that are otherwise always bouncing around in my brain — like when a server drops a tray of dishes in a restaurant and in the moments after the echoes of the crashing and smashing have faded; all conversations remain in suspended animation a beat longer.
I’m standing on Lincoln Beach on a windy, crisp, and unusually clear fall day at low tide, partaking in my most sacred beach ritual, the sunset walk. I’m about a half mile away from the Fishing Rock State Park, a bluff that juts into the Pacific, that happens to be the perfect place to watch a sunset or to spot migrating humpback whales.
The wind is tugging at my hood, stinging my cheeks with cold salt water and sand — sea tears.
Geologically speaking, the North Oregon coast is much younger than beaches in Southern California or Florida. The sand is coarser, closer to the rocky…
