I returned home from my visit to Hilton Head Island, SC, with more pictures of the ocean than I know what to do with. Sunrises, sunsets, and shorebirds aplenty have followed me back to the gray, snowless Northeast. Come February, I’m sure, I’ll treasure these moments even more than I do now, the memories of sunshine in my face again, walking along the shore playing tag with the tide, communing with seagulls at what always feels to me like the edge of the world.

I adore the birds that make their home at the ocean. I want to fly off with them so many times, eager to see the many places both known and unknown they must have traveled. And I’m envious, too, of the ease with which they can come or go on wings that will carry them wherever they choose, following the wind, chasing the ever-changing currents of time and the seasons.