We should not define ourselves by our profession or by our children or by where we live or by how much money we have or by any external circumstance. Who we really are is defined in our Spirit, which is given and cultivated by God. But certainly all these external circumstances help to build our personalities. Children change us, our job fosters parts of our personality and where we live defines a lot of what we do. I came face to face with this fact as I faced the “monster waves” off the coast of Sunset Beach this past week.
When on vacation sometimes you soak in the beauty of the place and become reflective, sometimes you become extremely lazy and lay with a book for hours and sometimes the adventure and freedom of the place sweeps you up. Well the latter happened to me and my children as we stepped into that ocean. She possessed us and we all screamed with delight as she threw us, rolled us and allowed us to soar upon her back to the shore. You would have thought we had never been to the beach in our lives – it is as if we caught something. It hit me suddenly, as I watched the surfers and began to paddle out to their depths on my brand new boogie board, that if I had grown up on the coast this is where I would find myself – on or in the ocean. I could not get enough of those waves and I cried when the kids and I stepped out of the ocean for the last time at the end of the week.
As it is, we live in the mountains (which I love). I grew up in West Virginia so it is what I have known my whole life – and so we are mountaineers instead of surfers – and we do tackle those mountains much like we did those waves last week, so the spirit is much the same no matter where we find ourselves. The adventure of both mountain and sea are so great but more important than adventure is the joy, wonder and freedom given when you allow yourself to fall in love and embrace a place. When you truly let go, you can feel the power of such a moment and know it is from God and that it is more true to who you are then any of the other things in the busy world that we use to define ourselves. Remember – Spirit is from the Latin spiritus, meaning “breath.”
Next to the waves I love cooking at the beach. Here is my recipe for shrimp tacos that I concocted while running to and fro from kitchen to shore!
Bean dip
1 – 15 oz. can black beans
1 – 15 oz. can whole kernel corn
6 Roma tomatoes chopped
1 small onion chopped
1 small jalapeño pepper or banana pepper (if do not want too much heat) chopped
1/3 cup of cilantro chopped
½ of lime squeezed
1 tsp. chili pepper
½ tsp. cumin
-Mix all of ingredients in bowl
Guacamole
4 avocados
½ cup sour cream
1/3 cup salsa
1 lime squeezed
2 tsp. celery salt
Pepper to taste
-Peel avocados and remove pits. Smash with a potato smasher or fork in bowl
-Add the rest of ingredients and blend thoroughly
Shrimp Tacos
1 lb. fresh shrimp
2 tbs. cooking oil
1 tbs. Bill’s stuff (found in Sunset Beach, NC) or any seafood seasoning
6 tortillas
2 cups shredded Colby Monterey Jack Cheese
Sour cream
Salsa
-Heat oil on medium in skillet. When hot throw in peeled and de-veined shrimp with seafood seasoning, cook for 4 minutes on each side until pink then remove from heat.
-Heat tortillas in microwave for 1 minute
-Fill tortilla with shrimp, bean dip and guacamole.
-If desired add toppings of cheese, sour cream and salsa then wrap up your soft taco and enjoy!
By Leigh Sackett [email protected]