it's always ourselves we find in the sea

Yesterday we (Casa students from the US and the becarios-Salvadoran scholarship students) went to the beach to play! And, play we did! We swam in the bath-warm water, played/heckled those playing a barefoot soccer game, and basked/burned in the sun. We Casa kids ran immediately into the waves, while the becarios generally preferred to stay on the sand. It turns out that they don´t have much experience swimming, so the undertow and crashing waves can seem pretty scary. Even for the strongest of swimmers, going out far is dangerous because of the powerful undertow.

I noticed that my ability to speak Spanish was better in the ocean! The saltwater must´ve been good for my brain because on land I am quite the bumbly, jumbly mess in Spanish. (And, I am learning!) In the water, everything was easier... my Spanish was smoother, my pain was way almost nonexistent, and I learned that splashing is the perfect cure for language differences, my own awkwardness, and Salvadoran pena (fear of being known).

One of my favorite parts of the day was watching a Salvadoran family play in the water. Three adults & two kids were helping an older woman, fully dressed in Sunday church clothes, make her way into the waves. And, make it she did! She got in to about thigh level, laughing and splashing in her long pink lace-trimmed skirt. It was stunning!

And now, a poem that reminds me to breathe & remember to bring my beach-awe with me into the rest of life...!

maggie and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach (to play one day)
and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles, and
milly befriended a stranded starwhose rays five languid fingers were;
and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles: and
may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.
For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it's always ourselves we find in the sea
-ee cummings