sea change

The title was a term coined by Shakespeare when he wrote "The Tempest" in the early 1600's, or thereabouts. He used the term in Ariel's song, Full Fathom Five, to denote the transformation the creatures of the ocean had performed upon a human body, with the bones being replaced by coral and pearls replacing the eyes. Celtic Woman does a beautiful rendition of the song; in the video, underwater visions are coupled with the ethereal nature of the airy Shakespearean character invoked by the singers.
Ever since the invention of the term "sea change," others have taken it up to represent broad transformations in appearance or meaning or even demographics. The latter was perhaps best done by the Australians in the 1990's when a television show about a character moving from the city to an actual small seaside town resulted not only in increased tourism for the area, but also a permanent population shift to that town and other small beach communities. Talk about real life imitating art! Usually, it's the other way around, isn't it? Then again, maybe people simply wanted to slow down the frantic pace of their lives and what better place to do that very thing than by the sea?
Sometimes, though, a physical move to a new locale is not possible. Financial constrictions, family responsibilities, and work requirements aren't necessarily conducive to rooting oneself up and moving to a new clime, to begin again with making social connections and a new home. This was all brought to my attention earlier this week when I was having my morning caffeine and indulging in a past televised favorite, "Just Shoot Me." Jack Gallo, played to the hilt by George Segal, is recounting how he came to be the owner of a painting of boats. He has found the painter in a meadow, busily working his craft, but all the works are ships at sea. When asked why, the artist replied "Sometimes in life, you gotta make your own oceans."
Now, there's a quote I can completely embrace. Sometimes... you gotta make your own oceans. Hence, I blog, enjoying my private beach when I absolutely cannot travel elsewhere. I write, letting the sea of my own creation wash over me, bringing the new thoughts and new attitudes to attain the changes I need in my life, taking away the thoughts that would hold me in the past. My own ocean. I like that. I may not yet be able to visualize the vastness of that ocean, but the little piece I see grows every day, the beach I trod gets a little wider and longer each time I visit. My own ocean, coming to life, moment by moment, in the ocean room I created in my house about this time two years ago. My own ocean.