Lost at sea…

 

You never really get a sense of how vast the earth is until you are in the middle of a body of water that has no visible bounds. No landmarks, no sights, not even a distinct horizon. My family and I recently took our first cruise, so it was the first time I had experienced the phenomenon of feeling like I was a tiny dot in the middle of an enormous, boundless sea. The first couple of days we set sail in pea soup–gray, misty, and damp;  hour after hour of nothingness. Initially, I was disappointed at not experiencing the beautiful tropics touted in the travel brochures, but slowly, this gave way to a feeling that was  just as strangely exhilarating–the feeling of being utterly alone in the middle of “nowhere.” Of course, it wasn’t actually “nowhere”… we were sailing across the Gulf of Mexico and  the Caribbean Sea on our way to Honduras, but emotionally, it felt like nowhere. It was existential and spiritual at the same time–looking out over a sea such as this certainly makes you reflect on the courage of the world’s early explorers or of anyone who was ever  lost at sea, and even more so, how your own, singular life fits into this huge, vast world. Eventually, I began to use this time to relax, let down, and simply breathe in the moment, which is one of the best rewards of any vacation. Hope you enjoy…