wedding surf in big sur

changes on the coast, like changes in our lives, happen suddenly and in an instant.

we never known when we might discover the best possible moment; a photo, a chance meeting, an unexpected opportunity ... are we prepared, are we ready, are we willing . . . .

this week-end i experienced a wedding in big sur, an area of california i hadn't really explored before.  i didn't exactly get lost, but i never found the wedding rehearsal or the dinner.  but the coast was a picture!

the fog began to roll in, as it does on the coast; feeling at a loss for directions, a managed to make my way back and forth and back and forth; ever feel like that?!  you get just to the edge, and suddenly, you are just not quite there.

fortunately, that was friday, and the wedding wasn't until saturday at 5.  what is a pastor to do?  pack it in for the day, and start over again in the morning?  you bet 'cha!  so that's what i did.

but never pass up the opportunity to find the light in the haze or the movement of the ebb and flow of life.

in the midst of the rocks is an answer to the where and the why.  if we do not stop to contemplate, then we may never know the true extent of the mystery.  take that extra moment, and be open to the possibilities, even when plans don't go as, well . . . planned!

saturday arrived in big sur, and no matter what, i was going to find the location of that wedding!  with all our gps systems in place, one reality rings true on the coast of big sur . . . . the words "no service" are seen a lot!  so the best way to go is the old fashioned way ... get an address!

OH!  there it is; i'd passed this spot several times on my adventure; do you ever do that?!  and then suddenly, as if out of a fog, there it is; the beauty and elegance of "the right place".

and this wedding location, like the couple themselves, was 'the perfect combination of beauty and elegance; simple and down to earth, and nothing could be better!  by 12:30,  i knew where i was to be by five; and i made it there in plenty of time; to prove it, i captured the sun as it reflected on the surf.  like a mirror disturbed only by the whale spouting some water, and the ripples of the tide.

nearby the 'wind and sea', was the perfect place to wait out until 3:30.

and so i read; i am on the second mystery by barbara corrado pope, entitled the blood of lorraine. i have my new library card, and i'm using it!  pope's mysteries take place in france, and this one deals with anti-semitism; the main character is the magistrate bernard martin.  the first book in the series was cezanne's quarry, and it is easy to get 'hooked'; in this way i get to be an 'armchair adventurer.  reading on the coast was ideal!

following the wedding, as the dancing was just about to begin, i left, leaving the women to change into flip-flops for the occasion; dancing in high-heals my be fashionable, but not on gravel!  and so highway 1 beacon-ed to me.  as i left the sun of big sur, i watched as the fog rolled in over the surf once again, but this time, engulfing the industrial works that sat atop a land-mass.

i thought of kellie and tom as they began their new life together; how we never know what might come in our path; and chances are, that path will change hundreds of times over the course of their developing relationship.

and yet, they have the journey ahead of them before the sunset.

the adventure is just beginning in a relationship filled with possibilities.  the light shines, and the night has yet to consume it!