I’m back to my routine of weekends in my chalet in Oxwich after a winter back in Brecon. My dear friend Cathy died in January after a battle with cancer and that has hit me hard. She has been with me since I was ten as a pen pal in South Dakota. She’s been the sister I never had. We’ve grown up together, gone to university, married and had children, telling each other about our lives and thoughts. It’s been an incredible journey. I’ve been over there twice and she came to see me in Brecon in 2019. It’s been such a joy to know such a warm and giving person. We last spoke at Christmas on FaceTime. It was quite emotional. When I am in Oxwich I feel close to her remembering the day she paddled there with me, her first time in an ocean and it was right here.
Yesterday was another special day. It started at 7.30am with a walk down to the beach listening to a woodpecker and a partridge. As I walked towards the meeting point on the beach of an event I met a lady with an SLR camera walking towards me. She smiled and said she’d just seen two dolphins feeding on a shoal of fish close to the beach. I though sadly I’d missed them as I’d never seen them in the 3 years of walking on this beach! But I hadn’t they were there. I was smiling when I met the Rose and the other ladies of our group. We stood and watched the pair smoothly come out of the water in a gentle arc sometimes only one, sometimes together. It was very special. We talked about whether they were dolphins or porpoises and I think they were the latter. What a way to start a Sunday morning in March. I didn’t want to be anywhere else in the world. I would have liked my sons and their families to see them too. Perhaps they will some day.
The event was a Springtime meditation, swim and sauna on the beach. We were all wrapped up but it wasn’t icy or snowy as it has been and although there was a little drizzle that soon faded away. Even the wind was not that bad. We walked into the sand dunes and stood in a circle to do some breath work and small connected movements to strengthen our resilience to stress. It was so quiet, so still, as if we had walked into another parallel world. What we did was simple, easy yet so invigorating. We wandered back to the beach after some sitting meditation. Off came our layers and into the sea we all went, smiling, giggling in our swim suits – no wet suits for these women. It was fabulous. We had to dodge the waves but it was pretty cold once submerged. Then it was back onshore to get in this wonderful sauna on the beach Ty Sawna. It’s cylindrical like a gypsy caravan made in Lithuania, a wood burning sauna. Delicious after a cold sea swim. We all chatted and talked about all sorts. After 15 minutes we got out and had another swim and repeated this so we dipped in the sea three times altogether. The sauna has a half circle window overlooking the huge expanse of the sea which is a wonderful vista as we watched people walking with their dogs. After 55 minutes we had to get out and dress in the open air- not an easy activity. We gathered around Rose’s car and drank chai and ate vegan cakes to bring the event to a close. Reflecting on this experience I feel that I gain so much, I return to a good emotional place.
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