Catching the California Wave

Photography by: https://facebook.com/lightandmagicart; Instagram @light_and_magic_art

Oceanside does not have residents but characters; today, I learned that Oceanside is not a city but a community. 

Recently, a young woman reached out to the community for help finding her father, who was living on the streets and needed urgent medical attention. Over a dozen people began searching for the man, driving down deserted alleys, parks, and behind old gas stations and cafes. Within an hour, someone located her father and brought him home.  

After spending my first year in Oceanside, I moved to Orange County. I saw no unhoused people, even though I knew they existed. The streets had been swept clean of any reminder of life in a broken world. The buildings were shining, the beaches pristine, and the roads smooth. I did not find a community, but a sterile city, filled with boutique coffee shops, microbreweries, and Pilates studios. 

While I’m sure many citizens of Orange County have rallied around the most vulnerable within their cities, seeing the Oceanside community reach out so wholeheartedly to this man reminded me of why my return to Oceanside was more than geographical. 

Outsiders may come to our community and see unhoused characters living in their aging vans, beneath overpasses, or alongside busy roadways. They may bristle at our older buildings or less-than-pristine beaches. While I can see those things as challenges to overcome, what I see the most are the characters who live along its sparkling, pastel shores, seawater running through the veins of its windswept beaches, uniting everyone in its golden heartbeat.