Virginia Is For Families

Labor Day is just around the corner and summer is coming to an end.  I realize that some of us will still go to the beach in September and maybe even put our toes in the water.   But for reasons having to do with official policy summer is over.

“IT’S OVER!”

And it’s time to have a little philosophical moment here.  Why?  I don’t know.  Because we can?  Because we are bored and need something to do?

Because we have started referring to ourselves in the plural again and need to find a way to stop doing this?  We are not the Pope.  We will never be the Pope although we do have a rather bizarre fantasy about leading the world into the new millenium with our blogging efforts.

“Has he written a new post today?”  Words that will someday reverberate around the world in millions of homes.  NOT.

TODAY I would like to discuss with you a little problem that I have been noticing now for about, oh, many   years.

I know that there was a day before yesterday and a day before that and so forth.  But there must also be a day before the first day I can remember.  I know that I was born on December 25 (haha) 1948 and there must have been a day before that and so on back, back and back to the beginning.

Beginning?  Did I say beginning?  Well there must have been a beginning right?  Things have not just gone on forever.  So if there was a start somewhere eons ago then what was happening before the start?  NOTHING!

That’s why there was a start because before that there was nothing.  But, then, if there was nothing how could something have started out of nothing.  How could time have gotten started out of nothing all by itself?  That seems impossible.  So there was not a beginning perhaps.

And there will not be an end.

And that would mean that time actually does not exist. Because time is based on things starting and stopping or having a beginning and an end.

So maybe we just dreamed all of this up .  Maybe life is a dream!  And the fact that we go to bed every night, sleep and have dreams is a clue!   Because we wake up and say “Oh!  Good.  That was just a dream (if we just started WWIII) or Darn! That’s not good.  How do I get back into that dream?  (If we were having a nice time with Angelina while Brad was away making a movie  -He took all the kids with him). Maybe when we die we wake up and go “OMG what a strange dream I just had”.

Maybe we are dreaming right now.  You are reading this but you are dreaming.  I’m writing it but I am dreaming.  We think that dinner will be in a couple of hours but we are dreaming (Especially if we are supposed to be  making it and instead are goofing off at the computer.)

It’s all just a dream.  And one day we will wake up and go “Man!  That was some dream!

I wonder if we will still have the problem with time when/if that happens?  Because if it happens and I “wake up” and realize this gig is over and then look around and realize I’m still “doing time” I’m going to be really ticked !

Because that will mean I just went from one dream to another dream.  Maybe it will be a nicer dream.  But it will still be a dream.  And so the process will start over again.  Hopefully my hard drive will go with me wherever I end up so I can check these notes and make certain additions.

And communicate with the rest of you!

“Has he written another post yet today?”

Captain Jack told me the this was “Dolphin Beach” but after checking a map it seems clear to me that it is Salt Kettle Beach.  Jack is like a little kid sometimes and he loves to tell stories.  You have to watch him closely when he opens his mouth.  But when he is guiding the sailboat at night you can sleep soundly .

I was exploring the beach and deciding that I really was not interested in following a path into the interior. There is a cool cave a mile or so from the water but it is further down the coast. Several hundred years ago a group of settlers lived in that cave for two years while trying to figure out how to establish a colony.

It is so hot today. I can’t imagine how they did it. And as I walk down this deserted beach to the water’s edge I look up and for a second think that there are sharks in the water. There is not a sound as a large fin glides  near my feet. And the darkness around it seems odd in this brief moment. Is this a dream? Am I seeing a strange sea creature?
For a second I am aware that life is a dream and I experience this in my gut. And then my rational mind jumps into the fray and tells me “It’s a pod of dolphins and you can almost touch them”.

My camera is on a rock as the tide comes in and I take a few steps while frantically pulling it out of its protective bag. And then while forgetting any notion of planning a shot I start taking three photos per second trusting that some of them will actually capture a dolphin as it rises in a smooth and soundless arc out of the depths.
If I had been anywhere else on the beach I probably would have missed this and so I feel fortunate even though in a few seconds they are gone. Jeremy has taken a walk down the beach and later tells me about his experience.
“I was standing waist deep in water and thinking about nature and how beautiful it can be. I was really at peace with the world and when I looked up there were several dolphins swimming towards me.”

We will always remember these moments.  Such a beautiful dream.