On the third day of our trip to the Oregon Coast, Melissa, my in-laws, and I paid a visit to Pacific City. We’d come here to do some grocery shopping and get a bite to eat. It was between the grocery shopping and lunch that we decided to walk down and check out the tide pools.

Walking through the parking lot on our way to the beach, my eye was caught by a small dog on a leash tethered to the handle of a car. Behind the car, a couple was firing up a Coleman stove on the car’s trunk. The dog looked very much like a toy Pomeranian. This, of course, reminded me of our Pomeranian and good friend for 17 years, Pepsie.

I wandered over to say hello. During our conversation, I found out they were from the Seattle area. When I said I was from Pullman, Washington, one of them mentioned they had grown up in Pullman, a wonderful connection. We also bonded over the joy of Pomeranians.

The conversation turned toward how good it is being on the coast. This always seems to come up in conversations with people I meet on the coast. I find it difficult to put words to the salty air, the waves, fog rolling in and rolling out, and the gulls.

Constant motion. One can’t put a finger on it: the air, the waves, the fog, and the gulls. It is always in motion. No room for a pause and yet there you are.

As I was talking to the couple and pondering this, there was their toy Pomeranian, spinning, jumping on my shins, always in motion with a smile and that Pomeranian energy. The ocean is like this, constantly expressing itself, in each moment, woven into all that is happening in our lives.