Gosh California is fun. Hey New Englanders, I have to tell you that Californians really are some of the best-looking people I have seen all in one place. The Beach Boys were right, people here are both beautiful and healthy looking. Wow! We need level up our game here, New England. Although we are clearly the best sports town in the world, we might need to hit the gym and get some sun. And maybe relax a little bit too! There is something very laid back and happy here in Cali that is alien to me as a tightly clenched East Coaster.
I was hanging out on the surfer’s beach yesterday in Cardiff-by-the-Sea. I love watching people surf. I have always wanted to learn, but since I refuse to get in the water in Massachusetts unless it’s a whole lot warmer than frigid, I have never tried it. And I am terrified of sharks, having spent my summers on Martha’s Vineyard during the 70’s and actually watched them filming the movie JAWS. Now Cape Cod is officially Cape Shark and surfers look a whole lot like seals to a hungry shark. Yikes…
Still, I love to watch the surfers, and can catch the Zen of it all, even by watching. Someday, I am going to learn to do it.
There is a laid-back vibe about it all. I was sitting on the beach on a Monday at lunchtime and wondering how so many people are able to be hanging out and surf in the middle of the weekday. Like they have nothing better to do in the whole wide world than ride the waves, and who could blame them? What could be more important than that? I love the color of the Pacific Ocean, it’s a happy blue-green that is more inviting that the cold, gray Atlantic.
So yesterday, I was on TV. It was amazing to me how fun it was. I can’t believe it, but I wasn’t even nervous, just excited. I think it went well enough. It felt right, like I was supposed to be there and it wasn’t weird to have flown three thousand miles across the country to be on TV for 4 minutes. When I got out of the studio, there was a crow sitting on the top of my car. (Enterprise upgraded me to a brand new, white Dodge Challenger. Wowsa. I have been bombing down the California highways in a bitchin muscle car. Bam!)
As I was marveling at the crow, a hummingbird flew by me and hovered right in front of me for a few minutes.
It was magic.
I knew it was a sign that the whole trip is magic. We get those moments when we have momentum- we are in the flow of our own soul and our life purpose and it’s important to follow the call forward. We must ride the waves.
Saying yes especially to things that are new and stretchy keeps the flow going. While saying NO shuts down the flow.
Saying no to coming here would be have been easy. (It’s too far, too expensive, too scary, I’m too busy… All of that is really true, of course.) But it also would have put my foot on the brake of that momentum and I believe in riding that wave all the way to the end. Surfers say you get those magic waves every once in a while, and you have to take them when they come, whatever the cost.
The next wave brought me to meet with my agent, which was so fun. He and his wife are lovely and I pitched my next book idea to him. He loved it. I have a few more leads to follow with more media exposure that could be big and I feel that things are moving. The momentum is increasing. The waves are good today with nary a shark in sight.
Thank you all for your support, I will keep you updated!
