@Audra - Hi Audra.  Whether we like getting out into the woods or not, I think there's an appreciation we all have for what exists in nature, what God has created.  The beach beside an ocean can be very connecting - the waves, the breeze, the vastness.  So, so good...

@Karl - Hi Karl.  Yes, I've heard the turle analogy before, and it really can put things into perspective.  Life is amazing!  And that you have a new one in your own life, you young son - what a gift he is!  

@Hayden - Hi Hayden.  Maybe it's that we something like 70% water ourselves?  Or that there's so much water on this earth?  Or maybe it's just the feeling it creates in you.  Water can be so calming, and yet also so powerful.  The yin and yang.  Maybe that's part of the draw, the amazing ways in which water can work, and in it all be so connecting.  Water, for me, feels like "life".  Living, moving, flowing...

@Lori - Hi Lori.  Well, how about that!  Kristin's site is a great addition to your reader, I know it a treasured site in mine!  And thank you for sharing your own foggy story.  So, you're someplace that sees a lot of fog, and coming from a very sunny locale, I'm sure that was an adjustment.  Maybe part of that is embracing that which is around us, which can be hard at times.  The way you've described it as a blanket around you...Lori, this is so deeply touching.  And when I read that, I think of comfort and safety.  And that's a very good feeling to have.  

@Jan - Hi Jan.  The gentle sounds of waves resting upon the shore is very therapeutic.  Maybe calming, too.  Except when they're big waves - like a storm at the sea.  And still, I find that very connecting too.  How awesome that you've lived upon a short most of your adult life.  I'm noticing that throughout the comments today - water is very much a connecting life force for so many people.  And it all has me thinking about this more, myself - and what water really means in my life.  Jan, thanks so much for sharing here...

@Nadia - Hi Nadia.  The ocean is so vast, so "as far as the eye can see".  And in that, what a powerful realization of just how awesome our world is.  And I love the use of the word "peace" to describe the ocean - what a great way to really look at what these large bodies of water give us.

@Stacey Shipman - Okay, so if I understand you correctly (and correct me if I'm wrong), the ocean might have special meaning for you?!?!  Yes, the ocean - there's something about it - and it's not the same as a river or a lake.  Perhaps its' the vast expanse it covers.  Or the life force it carries.  Living by the ocean has to be such a great thing - especially with how connecting it is for you.  While I live far from the ocean, I know very much about how connecting it can be.  Part of it is the fun it provides.  Much deeper than that, though, for me, is the level of peacefulness it brings.  Just looking out upon those waters, listening to the waves against the shore - it is connecitng at a deep level.  And I kind of think the winter ocean walks - probably on quiet beaches - have a different feel to them - one that might I think be pensive and inward looking...

@Kristin - Kristin, it's great being here and reading how everyone is connecting with nature.  Thank you for opening this space up for that to happen.  Northern Michigan is a special place, and one I remember visiting several times during our short couple of years living in western Michigan.  And I love the camping story you've shared - I know exactly what you're speaking of, that walk late at night and the hushed silence of the nighttime sky.  

@Jocelyn - Hi Jocelyn.  Wow, I love this story.  See, I wonder if we sometimes take for granted that which we experience more often.  Fog, here in Wisconsin, is not an every day or even every week occurence, but it most definitely occurs every year.  And so it's something I'm certainly familiar with.  How you've looked at it, though, through eyes that see this very rarely - this all makes me think about all the beauty we have around us - and how easy it can become to just forget how amazing it is when we see it every day.  Which tells me it's time for me to slow down and really appreciate all the amazing things right in my own backyard...

@Wilma - Hi Wilma.  Well, I can tell very much just how connecting water is for you - in both fun and deeply moving ways.  And what a great thing - how water has that ability to do that.  Water is like flowing life, coming into our being in so many amazing ways!  Thanks so much, Wilma, for sharing that.