Calm of the storm

Flynns Beach, Port Macquarie

I have a strong connection to this beach. We, mum and I, would always come home from work or school after a long day and say to each other "let's go wash the day off" - and we'd come here: to the south end of Flynns where the waves didn't crash, but they'd wash over you gently, just the way you needed them to. And we'd collect stones and discover life in the pools and talk nonsense until the sun hid enough to cast shadows over our bodies as we lay in the sand almost asleep, always content. 

And even on a bad day, it is a beautiful place. It's shape, ruggedness, and (especially in the south end) its emptiness reconciles you with a sense of just being. So last week, with all the business of the world we've both experienced lately, we took each other here, to a place we shared when I was a teenager and a kid, to just be.