Standing on that Shore

It is easy for me to think "contemplative"
   when I look at this image.
A four-year-old stands on the shore of Lake Michigan,
   taking in the first large body of water
      she has ever seen.
The waves go on and on
   until the horizon swallows them.
Such vastness!
Such utter blueness!
Such out-of-the-ordinariness
   for someone who, to that point in time,
      had made Indiana and its fields her home.
She stands there in the sand,
   being opened, and opening, in the same movement.
She is all of us,
   at one time or another,
      through one experience or another.
She is also my daughter, Christen,
   who on this day turns 35.
She is still one who stands looking,
   wondering,
      opening.
Happy birthday, Little One.
Feel that sand.