Last night, we watched the documentary Oceans as a family. Oh. My. Glory. Have you seen it? I watched with my jaw flung open the entire time. We all did. It is a piece of art.
I’m a Midwestern girl, but I am so in love with the sea. It is part of so many of my favorite life memories. As a girl, holding hands with my dad as we jumped waves in the Florida surf. As a newlywed, holding my breath in awe on a whale watching adventure. As a mama, building sandcastles and burying tiny toes in the sand and having picnics on beach towels. Little moments that felt like pure magic.
And of course I’ve always been aware of the magic that lies beneath the surface. I’ve seen images, watched shows, read stories. But I’ve never before seen a film that captured the art that exists under the sea the way Oceans does. The deep grooves on a humpback whale’s underbelly look like nature’s original wainscoting. Giant, yellow sea nettles moving through dark waters resemble something from a sci-fi alien movie. And the hot pink Spanish Dancer fish? A showstopper. All works of art.
In fact, the movie reminded me that while I’m making art in my dudio, millions of beautiful beings beneath the crashing waves are making their art. While I’m tucking my kids into bed, there’s a mama walrus somewhere kissing her cub. Whenever I’m singing along to music in my car, there are whales singing together somewhere at that very moment. Turns out I don’t need to be near the sea for the sea to be in sync with me. We are co-existing. We are co-creating. We are made of magic. Every one of us, swimming side by side.
