Drakes Beach

Drakes Beach
1.6 miles
1 hour
Start: Sir Francis Drake Boulevard
End: Drakes Beach Parking Lot
Includes: Drakes Beach Road, Historic D Ranch, Drakes Beach, Drakes Beach Cafe

Hike 18
April 12, 2013
Four of Cups
Incubation

The four of cups shows a man sitting under a tree with his arm folded and eyes closed. A hand reaches forward from the mist offering him a cup. Cups represent relationships.

With this card in mind, I headed to Drakes Beach with Carol. Due to a Facebook glitch, I didn't know she was coming, so I was happy and surprised when she arrived at my house.

We parked at the head of the road going to Drakes Beach. The map said it was 2 miles, but it ended up being only 1.7. Carol had a time constraint, so we took two cars, parking one at the beach.

We passed Historic D ranch.

A Pastoral Zone sign explained dairy and ranching practices on the peninsula.

We got to the beach with time to spare, so we walked out. Carol was wrangling the trash bag and noticed bits of plastic all over the beach.

Drakes Beach is a sheltered bay used by elephant seals for pupping every year.

I felt ashamed and sick at the sight of these plastic bits: we are turning the ocean waters into a toxic soup. We would never have enough time to pick up all this plastic.

Instead, we picked up the most noticeable pieces, walked out to enjoy a moment on the beach and headed back to the car.

Carol left to go home and I returned to Drakes Cafe.

I ordered fish tacos and took a seat by the window. Jessie, who runs the place with her family, told me the Visitor Center next door will be closing in two weeks. Hopefully people will still go to the cafe, since it offers the only food near the point, except for the oyster farm, on the Point Reyes peninsula.

I can personally vouch for the quality of the tacos and fries.

Getting to the theme of incubation, Carol wisely said, "You would never expect a pupa to go to a PTA meeting."

I told her I was losing my moorings and we talked about that being a good thing. I was a little concerned, however, about how far I could let go and still function.

I talked about finding satisfaction in doing very little, in going deeper. I suppose I was seeking perspective by bringing this up and perspective I got.

The world is always going to offer some idea about what I could be doing. To be open to others means to be in relationship. To be in relationship means to be responsible. To be responsible means to be responsive.

If we are always open to input from the world, how do we find our own course? How do we know what we need? The man in the four of cups is choosing to keep his own counsel for the time being. The world is offering him a chance to be responsive and he is choosing to close his eyes and stay out of touch.

I remember a guy telling me once about how he used to fall asleep when he met with his guru. He felt ashamed. His guru said, "If you need to sleep, who am I to say you should do otherwise?"

I like that. If we all just do what we feel like doing, we will be happier. We can stay in touch with ourselves, fulfill our needs appropriately and let go of onerous responsibilities.

Healthy relationships are a fluid process of going into and out of touch with each other as our needs require. This is the path of least resistance. The path of least resistance is to keep the pupae out of the PTA and get on with the business of living our own lives according to our needs, so that we may have something of value to offer others.