Sunday, July 16, 2017

Explore. Dream. Discover.



By Alex Kearns

Bucket Lists, Wish Lists, If Onlys—we all have them, and we all vow to check off those boxes of longings. Someday. Maybe. Then time passes and there always seems to be another excuse, another reason why not, another day that slips by.

But what if we told you there’s a place where you can set your inner explorer free? What if you heard about a small town on the edge of the continent that offers you everything you need to live life without regrets? Would you dare to make your dreams come true?

St. Marys is a paradise of possibility. Wide graceful streets, trees that whisper bygone lullabies, and a harbor that curves sweetly before setting off on a river’s 126-mile blackwater journey to its birthplace: the liquid highway of soldiers and sailers, pirates, and fortune-seekers. Biking, kayaking, walking, fishing, paddle-boarding…the choices are as varied as the shades of green and gold that cloak the salt marsh. Stretch your muscles, flex your limbs, and breathe. There’s a world waiting for you so “throw off the bowlines”!

 “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” H. Jackson Brown Jr. 

Meanwhile, the truly courageous voyager can embark on inner journeys that enrich the heart and challenge the intellect. As the dawn light bathes the waterfront park, those who practice Tai Chi carve the air in graceful shapes of tranquility while others gather for morning prayer. Yoga, dance, photography, theatre, music, art, volunteerism – the paths to self-expression and awareness are as varied as those who call St. Marys “home.”

And then there’s Cumberland Island: the perfect marriage of the physical and the spiritual. There is a transcendent beauty there that reaches deep into one’s soul. It releases and transforms us in unexpected ways. When you run your fingers lightly over the masterpiece of a live oak, emerge from a twilight tunnel of green into a sun-dazzled world of sugar-sand dunes, and stand alone on a beach that stretches into the horizon…you are profoundly changed. Suddenly you hear your own voice on the wind, taste the sea salt on your skin, walk the earth with a gentler but firmer step, and know what it is to be Timeless.

No matter how many years have passed by or how many evenings came to a close with the sighed words “Maybe I’ll do it tomorrow,” it’s never too late to put aside the lists of “some-days” and reach out for life. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. St. Marys awaits you.

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