Today I learned that I am a sandwalker.

As I was walking to the beach for my daily low-tide glory, some neighbors (when the weather is as welcoming as this, you get to see a lot of your neighbors - and, since the weather in Southern California is so often welcoming, you get to experience community on an almost daily basis) I was asked which way I was heading - along the walk towards the pier, or the sand, towards Rat Beach (yes, it's called "Rat Beach" - and it's usually quiet and always beautiful). "Rat Beach," says I. "O," says my neighbor, "you're a sandwalker."

I am, in deed, that.

I love walking along the verge of the merge between land and sea. It's where I get to see the varieties of genuinely deep fun playing themselves out: Little kids throwing sand. Older kids on their boogie boards trying to skim a quick ride on the hard wet sand. Kids and parents building sand forts, digging pools for the tide to come into. Young adults body surfing and board surfing and sail surfing. Waders. Swimmers. Divers. Families lying on each other. Buddhas on the beach.