All Is As It Should Be

All is as it should be. I know this now. Today, we spontaneously decided to go for a drive, and find a spot to sit and look out at the view and talk about our lives and goals, you know, what is important to us these days. After a few moments of indecision, we wound up parked at Berry Point just before Four PM, as the unusual blue sky of the day was shifting to a delicate, almost imperceptibly mauve shade.We let our dog Seeker out of the car so he could have a good run on the rocks. A sea lion swam past and nodded to us upon each surface. I felt graced. We shared a few puffs, lungs expanding, happy and clear. The sea chopped and churned, in colourful segments of various blues, whites and blacks. I said to K "I wish a whale would come". I had seen in this week's Island Tides that a pod of Orcas was spotted swimming south from Mayne Island on January 18th. I imagined them making their way past us. Could they be near? Oh come to us, I thought, come say hello. Convinced I would see them, I spotted what looked like a fin far off in the vacillating horizon, yes, it was moving quickly, it was straight and swift! K shook his head and said, no, a seagull. He was right. It turned and a flash of white confirmed its shape.Oh well. K reminded me that in all his years here he had only spotted Orcas once, from the deck of the ferry last year coming from Nanaimo...he'd been talking to his best friend's wife and then suddenly, beyond her profile he saw the fins...stupendous, magnificent, larger than he felt tall, he said. I thought, that must be truly something. I'd only seen Orcas in captivity, confined, defeated and performing, fins wilted sideways, and again from very far away on the ferry to Tsswwassen, and they had been so minute and distant, they looked like playful dolphins. 

I stared out to sea one last time as we turned to climb away......then. Then. I saw a slice, a knife-like vertical slice against the horizontal waves...a flicker of a shadow of something against the wavey grain. No, just a trick of the eye. Or, wait. Dark. Fast. High. Holy F! Then down. 

It disappeared. Did I? Did I really? No. A mirage again. A mirage, but....Waves, huge circles of foamy circles....parting, parting wider, and then the shiny black unmistakable dome! Up, Up, UP, ARCH!!! Right AT me! RIGHT toward the shore, like a torpedo, a huge black submarine rising! ORCA!

Coming straight for me! FAST! Leaping! It came to the very edge of what seemed the shore, as close as I could imagine the water was even deep enough to enter, I thought it might drive up onto the rocks! Then it banked, blew and spewed, tilted at me, as if to say...

I came, I am here. Hello.

Then it swam alongside us. Seeker spotted it and jumped, I called him to stay by me, I suddenly pictured him leaping the few feet into the water, so close was the whale.  There were four, no five, more Orcas, a good forty metres behind their leader, dancing in a merry fleet...they rose and followed their serene leader of the parade....and gently carried on into the distance.

They passed out of sight round the last rock. We stood stunned. I only realized then that I had been jumping up and down waving my arms and laughing like a little girl the entire time. There was a lady in an SUV on the road who saw it all, as well as two older women on a walk. Everyone touched by that brief fleeting visit.

I cannot describe our emotions shortly after this sighting. K wept with joy.  We had all day to get things done, to worry and fret and work and clean and try to make things go as they should. What ever made us choose that very moment of our crazy day to go for a drive and then stand on that particular spot on the beach and wish a whale would appear?

I know, they are frequently seen at Berry Point, as any local will tell you.But we've been many many many times. Today I called them. I really know I did. There is meaning in this moment and I wish all humans to have these amazing moments in their lives. It happens when you open yourself to all the possibilities and keep your eyes open.When you are on the right path, nature will affirm it. 

Perception is reality. I am where I am meant to be. We drove down to the shortcut between Chelwood and Daniel Way, and parked in the woods, with our binoculars. A woodpecker knocked in a tree above us. A deer quietly strode across the field unaware we watched it. In the sky, a jet plane bulleted like a slow dart leaving its white trail. Man's great invention, genius, people on their way.

Me Enjoying a Sunset at Berry Point  ~ Photo Credit Susan Banjavich