Today I am sitting on the beach just off the Strand in Oceanside, California. This town, where we have been once before, is one of if not my very most favorite place on the planet. We have traveled near and far, to ten or so different countries and over 35 states, and I still dream of this place, this beach, the ocean’s magical waves sweeping all the bad memories of life far into the open sea.

This town is about 180,000 people, but one would never know it. The beach isn’t crowded down on the far end of the strand, maybe because of the rocky area between the dunes and the water. It is chilly, around 63 degrees today. The wind is blowing, of course, because there is always a breeze across the ocean. The sand here is striped black from the rocks and ocean currents. It is not the white sandy beaches of Florida or the Caribbean. But it is just about heaven to me.

I sit here wondering why life can be so harsh. Why bad things happen to good people while bad people seem to I about their lives unscathed. Why a person believes that because he was abused as a child that should give him the right to abuse his own. Why people get cancer. Why people walking back home after an outing with their kids get hit by a car and killed. Why? Who knows. No one knows. All I know is that in this place, I find complete peace.

When I am here, on this rocky beach, I feel like my heart and soul are at home. Like nothing an no one can do anything to harm me or the ones I love. Like no one can touch us.

And that is a great feeling.