Reflections from the Beach

We just spent a marvelous week on Kiawah Island near Charleston. We were staying in a sixth floor condo with a spectacular ocean view. My particular spot was a corner chair that overlooked the beach and faced the sunrise. Each morning I would greet the sun from this position, but it was not the sun that gave me the most joy.
Perhaps there was some airflow pattern around our building, or perhaps it was just habit, but each morning a pelican would drop over the roof and fly past our window. This placed him within ten feet of where I was sitting. He was followed in single file by about fifty other pelicans. Each looked me right in the eye in some sort of bird salute. Once clear of the building, they formed into a goose like v and continued up the beach gliding about 20 feet out to sea.
But apparently hunger would overcome the need to provide beauty. Pelicans do not “land”. They let go and gravity reunites them with ocean. I came to love these birds. They had attained the grace and wonder of effortless flight, but they never let it go to their heads.