Anam Farraige (ocean soul)

When I went to Ireland, one of our stops on my Shamrockers tour was at a little beach. It was said that if you stepped into the water, the ocean would take a little piece of your soul. So in the dead of December, just a week before Christmas, I stripped off my shoes and socks and stuck my feet in the icy waters. Now, ever since I had stepped off the plane in Ireland, I had felt an echoing resonance with everything, almost a feeling of coming home. I feel that way around the ocean, so the opportunity to share some of my soul with this magnificent body of water in such a magical place seemed like such an obvious thing to do.

The shock of the water took my breath away, the rushing thrill and numbness overcame me at once. But instead of feeling like the ocean took a piece of my soul, I feel as if bits of soul were exchanged. I took a piece of this wild, living, monstrous energy and it took a piece of my calm serenity. Like a ship out in the storm, I felt the waves crash against one another and my ankles, I felt the depths of the ocean pulling you down while the brine pushed you upwards. I felt the merging of two states of being - wild energy and peaceful nothing - until I suddenly felt more whole different than I ever had before.

Since moving to Florida, one of my favorite things to do is just sit on the beach, soak up the nature and commune with my old friend, the sea. It makes me feel full, like a ball of light has begun to radiate throughout my body. When I leave the beach, the sound of the waves still crashing in my ears and the grains of sand leaving a trail behind me, I'm reminded of my soul exchange in Ireland and the fact that no matter where I go, I will always have a piece of the ocean with me.