She lifted her head out of the clear blue water and immediately heard the rasp of cicadas and children’s cries of joy as they ran in and out of the shallow waves.
Dipping her head under again, she felt her hair fan out like so much seaweed while the blissful silence returned and she moved gently up and down with the swell.
The sun was warm on her face and she knew that, if she opened her eyes she would see the Taygetos Mountains standing guard over the little village and the sea she floated in.
“How many generations of children (and cicadas!) have you seen come and go?” she wondered, feeling deeply connected to her place in the flow of time and this place in particular.
One by one, but in no hurry, thoughts drifted through her mind.
She remembered coming to this little village for the first time with her husband Irving and floating together in Kalogria, in love with each other (although the words had not yet been spoken) and in love with this place.
She remembered bringing her first miracle baby Phoebe here at just three months old, the holiday having been booked to distract from the pain of being told, after several years of waiting, that they were unlikely to ever have children without medical intervention. She had so happily cancelled the first IVF appointment when she found out Phoebe was on her way and she arrived just in time to be included in the next trip.
They both delighted in seeing Phoebe’s first proper laugh while Irving bounced her on a white sheeted bed in the simple hotel they were staying in. But they kept a seriously watchful eye on her all the time that trip, as she was an engaging baby and Ben Needham had just been snatched from a Greek island just recently. Rumours of child trafficking gypsies were everywhere although none were ever seen!
Nelson, the second miracle and much wanted son who followed Phoebe, learned to swim at this beach too, it was fast becoming a family and friends tradition to for children to learn here.
Both grown up now and promising to visit soon, she looked forward to teaching grand-children to swim here one day when they came to visit Grandma Nicola who lives in Greece.
Never one for meditation, with a brain that usually ran at one hundred miles an hour, she realised that the closest she ever came to complete and perfect mindfulness was when floating above the golden sands of Kalogria Beach.
This was her happy place, the place she imagined when doing guided meditations, the place she dreamed of when imagining her future.
Finally, pushing all thoughts away, she managed to concentrate very hard on nothing much at all.
Photo courtesy StoupaProperty.com
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