Song of the Sirens

 

"First to the sirens you shall come: and they
Enchant all mortal men who come their way.
As in a mead they sit,
Where all around great heaps of
bones lie mouldering on the ground"
The Odyssey - Homer

When people think of California wine country the first thought that comes to many minds is Napa or Sonoma not Edna Valley or Pasa Robles. My mother and I are taking a week's vacation in Pismo Beach. This is my favorite time of year to visit this side of paradise in California. The weather is lovely and wine country is lush and green and all the wineries are holding special harvest events this month. Already joined four new wine clubs and bought loads of wine from each winery I visited.

Our room at the "Cottage by the Sea" has a full ocean view and you can hear the ocean. In the late afternoon after a day of visiting wine country my mom and I sit in the small porch of our room and sipped a glass of the fine wine I purchased that day and watch the sun set into the ocean.

It's been cool enough to put on the gas fireplace at night. This place is just magical.

Last night I couldn't sleep, so at midnight, while my mother slept, I slipped on a pair of jeans and layered myself with sweaters and walked down to the beach. It's almost a full moon so the beach was well illuminated. There is something so seductive about the ocean. It's like a life force that can bewitch you.

In Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus has his men tie him to the mast so he could listen to the sirens songs without destorying himself by diving into the sea to join them.

I felt that way last night, while watching the waves of the deep, dark, blue waters, I couldn't help but think how easy it would be to dive into the waves and allow the ocean to envelop me into oblivion.

It's been a very hard year and I've been through a lot and sometimes I feel I'm not strong enough to handle the mental after math that the past events have left. But being here reminds me how beautiful this world is and what a blessing life can be.