Blog #530: I Saw Him…Again

A seagull.

For me…
He started everything.

I had just graduated from Berkeley. I had nothing lined up job wise after graduating, Within days after returning home, I was told emphatically, “You aren’t staying here!”

With nowhere to go…

I caught a bus to San Diego.
I had less than $400 in my pocket.

It was 1986.
______

When I arrived in San Diego…

I slept on the floor of a high school friend’s place…but could only stay a week because he was renting. That gave me time to make a new friend who had eagerly welcomed company…sleeping in the back of his van.

Yeah…you read that right.
Sleeping in a van.

But luck was turning my way.
______

I met another guy who helped me get a graveyard-shift job at 7-11 for .50 above minimum wage (midnight – 8:00 a.m.)

My momentum was changing.

But hold on…
let’s not forget this story is about a seagull.

I’m winding up to get t0 him.
______

Working at 7-11…

I started reading motivational books as I waited for customers to come in after 2:00 a.m. It was slow…and I was hungry for anything that would feed my attitude and keep my spirit from drowning.

I was consistently getting “I’m sorry to inform you…” letters from jobs I wasn’t getting. God Bless 7-11 for giving me the funds to pay for peanut butter, .39 cent loaves of bread and Ramen noodles.

The job also gave me the funds to move into a luxury 1-bedroom apartment with two limited-English speaking dudes…and 1,000 cockroaches.

From van to cockroach-infested apartment?

I was moving up fast.
______

And now it’s time to meet the seagull.

It was a San Diego weekend.
I went to the beach.
I was desperate to know my “What’s next?”

And then I saw him.

Yep…him.

The seagull.
______

He was standing in the sand on the edge of the water.
I stopped and watched him.

He caught my eye because he was in a trance.
He was staring straight ahead into the far distant ocean.

There were 10,000 seagulls on the beach that day.
But I saw this ONE.

I was meant to see this ONE.
______

I stared at him…staring.
And then weirdly, he turned.

He stared at ME.
And then he took off soaring straight out over the ocean.

I waited for him to circle back to the beach.
The dude wasn’t turning around. 

He never did.

I watched him until he disappeared into the…who knows where.

My soul was inspired beyond inspired.
______

The seagull?

He knew no fear…flying unafraid into the open ocean.
He boldly flew…to a destination only he knew.

THIS was my “Holy sh*t!” moment.

With every fiber in my being I knew…

I wanted to live unafraid…like him.
I wanted to have the guts to be bold…like him.
I wanted to SOAR…like him.

So I started to.

After that moment…,

I never again waited waited for “You’re hired!”
I would create every “J-O-B” I would ever have.
______

Later…

With the seagull’s image stuck in my brain…
I created the acronym: “S-O-A-R.“

SEE…the dream.
ORGANIZE…the dream into a step-by-step plan.
ACT…every day working on the plan.
REJECT…every freakin’ negative that blocks me from achieving my dream.

35-years later…

“S-O-A-R” has been the accountability structure that has pushed me to create every big success and awesome adventure I have lived.
______

Why am I telling this story now?

I am on a ship 1,000+ miles out in the open water. Today, I was walking laps around the ship’s track…giving it everything I have to accomplish a goal of walking 100-miles on water in 10-sea days.

And I saw him again.

I’ll repeat that.

I saw the seagull again.

______

As I logged another lap on my hand clicker (16 laps equals a mile)…
a seagull hovered in the air above me as I came around the short-lap’s bend.

He was suspended in the air…just floating.
The seagull was staring at me.

When you’re in the middle of the open ocean…you do not expect to see a bird. But when you do see one, it floods your body with a zillion watts of inspiring “OMG!” energy.

I stopped in my tracks.
On the ship’s track.

And I stared back at the bird staring at me.

It is a moment that my soul now possesses forever.
______

Of course…

I KNOW it’s not the same magical bird.
But then again…life is magical.

I looked at him and said out loud: “Hello. Again.“

______

Live being brave…

Like the seagull that boldly leaves the shore.
Like the seagull that flies 1,000 miles out into the open ocean.

Live being brave…
because you were born to live so.

______

So yeah…
I saw him again.

A seagull.

The bird who started everything.

Next time you see one?
Please tell him “Thank you.”

For his example on how to live.