Wanderer #10381

The Story

Here is a single fresh footprint in beach sand left by a barefoot beach walker that had come by. Perhaps it was left in a peaceful moment while bonding with the ocean and its waves. Could it also have been left by a vagabond during a moment of personal escape, a getaway? This picture is a blank canvas. You decide what suits your mind at this moment.

The surf’s white foam slides up the beach to reach the footprint and then fades away, as quickly and smoothly as quicksilver. The foamy wave barely reaches and touches the footprint, just as the ocean touches us all in some way. Soon this footprint in beach sand will be slipped away and gone, erased by the never-ending ocean waves that make a new spread of undisturbed wet sand for the next shoreline wanderer.

As long as there are humans and ocean waves, it’s certain there will be a wanderer leaving more footprints in beach sand that will be made and washed away. With the complex creatures we are, all of us need calming, peaceful moments like this one. People are drawn to this sort of place along coastlines everywhere to find a peaceful moment and some recentering with our earth, not to mention our souls.

Location: the Outer Banks in North Carolina…or any sandy beach anywhere. Picture and story © Andrew Dierks