The Land of E. Pluribus Unum

When I was a young child, one of the greatest moments I could have was getting to stay up late and watching MGM’s studio adaptation of Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz.  I loved that it was in black and white and then colour and then back to black and white.  They would let me drink coffee from my plastic cup while sitting on the couch loving the whole story of it.  I loved the ruby slippers, and the songs that made the movie so much fun.  It was in this movie that I first heard the phrase ‘the land of E Pluribus Unum’.  It was said by the wizard in the end of the movie and he was talking about going back to Kansas. 

It wasn’t until much later that I understood what the term means.  For those who don’t know, this phrase translates, loosely, to, from many, one.  Meaning we all come from the land of many people.  We all have different backgrounds, come from different parts of the world, and speak many dialects of languages.  Yet, we are one in this land.  One nation.  One country.  One people.  We are many, from many, and we form one group of proud individuals.  We came up with working through lunch, we don’t take a siesta, which, many countries all over the world, take that (I can get behind this idea of napping at lunch). We don’t know what it means to relax and enjoy life, we strive to better than others around us.  We are many. 

Fast forward more years after that.  I am in the navy by now, I was about to turn 23 and I bought one of my favorite pieces of jewelry.  Many who see it now, think it’s my high school class ring.  It’s not, it’s from the time I was in the Navy.  It is white gold, solid, with my name on one side of it with a globe and an eagle and the year I joined the Navy.  The other side of this ring has a banner on it that says, E Pluribus Unum, my last name and the crested eagle.  As I look at it from the top, around the stone says U.S.S. John F Kennedy CV-67.  The stone has my rating badge inside the stone itself.  The inside just has my initials and my last four in it.  I love this ring.  I wear it every day.  It’s my right hand ring and I will likely wear it until I die.  

What brought me to this topic, you may be asking yourself at this time, dear reader.  The morning was gray and dark and I wanted so badly to be outside running.  It’s not often that we have weather that is dreary, I live where there are more than 265 days of sunshine every year.  I live for the days of rain.  The light was so pretty, the mist in the air from the rain, the smell of the rain.  The colours all around were bright and vibrant and my mind drifted as I let my mind wander through days of old.  My feet hit the pavement in a steady pace, slow, but, steady, sounded like a nice rhythm of a downbeat.  I didn’t even think about the music or what I was listening too.  I thought of the Navy, and what it was life to be next to the ocean for so long.  I remembered one day, long ago, before I was underway, I was sitting on the beach.  It was dark and gray, I could hear the ocean, but the fog kept it from being seen.  The light was coming through the clouds and I was on the verge of not knowing anything about anything.  What I did know was that I was lost.  I was lost and I didn’t know what kind of future the Navy had in store for me.  I had just ended a, well, relationship would be stretching the truth a bit, fling.  I had found out that he  had a girlfriend.  I was shocked that people could do that to another, and he didn’t seem  too broken up about it.  I have since paid for my Karma, tenfold, but, at the time I was so naïve.  I thought that people were basically good and were like me, wanting to help others.  I have since learned this is not the case.  

As the miles kept rolling along, more memories came flooding back to me.  I thought about different people I has been unkind to, about the ones I would have bent over backwards for, about the ones who I will never forget.  I had good relationships and some bad one, I had mostly good times, but, I’m sure that there were plenty of bad days too.  Days like this make me miss the ocean something terrible.  I feel like I have this yearning in my soul to hear the waves again, to smell the salty sea, to see the ocean in her full glory.  I miss the stormy days underway when walking down the p-way (hallway) was a challenge since it felt like we were walking sideways.  I miss the constant rock of the waves under me.  I miss drawing my strength from the ocean. 

Luckily for me, I will be seeing the big blue in a few short weeks.  I am lucky that my running has allowed me to do a race in San Diego, where I can hang out with my sister, and see the big blue sea again.  I am super happy about that.  Not only will I get to fill my soul with what the ocean gives, I will be doing something that brings me a great deal of peace.  Running miles in a place that is 6500 feet lower than where I normally do.  I love running in the rain due to the density of the air as well.  Seems it makes it easier for me.  I am hoping that when I get there, it will be nothing but good happy things and it will be a wonderful time.  I am hopeful for the best with this race. 

The run turned into a day that I loved.  Not that anything went on that made me super happy, but, it was good day, and I have to think that it was because of the rain.  I’m grateful for the sunshine, but, the rain is what makes my soul come alive.   Running in the rain makes me feel like my soul is being cleansed from all that was holding down. 

I finished the run that morning, glowing from the high of it.  Soaked to the skin, the dog was a smelly wet dog and both of us were as happy as could be.