morro

My beau, Ian, and I spent a long weekend in Hollywood, where I was performing in the Mortified Doomed Valentine’s Show. Driving back up Hwy 1, we stopped at Solvang for Aebleskiver (sweet grease balls of dessert) and wandered around the charming little Danish town. We kicked around a little too much — eek— and were late leaving town. We had to cross our fingers that we would still make our goal of getting to Morro Bay by sunset. I kept envisioning standing there on the pier together, looking out at that big rock, watching a gorgeous sunset.

As we got closer to Morro Bay, and watched the sun drop in the sky, Ian and I joked that we’d be driving into town at 100mph, wheels squealing as he slowed down just enough for me to hop out and snap a photo of the very last ray of sun sinking into the water.

We made it there just ten minutes before the sun started to set. We were laughing, taking photos, and having fun. We watched some guys skillfully maneuver their sailboat down below in the water.  I waved hello. They pulled up close and yelled up to us, “Hey, you want a 5-minute sunset ride?” We rushed down to them to see if they were serious — or whether they were just teasing us. They were serious! They pulled up to the dock and helped us aboard.

What a delightful surprise! Ian and I just grinned. Here we were, smack-dab in the middle of the long drive to San Francisco, suddenly afloat on Morro Bay. We got to sail for about 45 minutes. Not only was it absolutely beautiful to be on the water during the last of the sunset, but also these two guys were a blast to be around — down-to-earth, friendly, and very funny. Turns out they’re members of a local group of musicians called theZongo All-Stars. Fascinating guys, full of vitality.

We shook hands with them and promised to see them at one of their upcoming concerts. Ian and I walked away, talking about how generous they were to offer that random act of kindness to a couple of strangers in their town.

***

That experience at Morro Bay made me see how my little mind is unable to fully imagine what is possible. I had a picture of how lovely it would be to get there by sunset, but nowhere in my wildest imagination could I have thought up a free sunset sailboat ride with some fun locals.

I wonder how much this is true for me in general: that I am not even able to imagine the extent of what is available in life.  It was a great lesson in simply being present to the moment and letting life show me what it is like to live large.