W+D: It seems I’m not alone

“Walked out this morning, I don’t believe what I saw

A hundred billion bottles washed upon the shore

Seems I’m not alone in being alone

Hundred billion castaways looking for a home.”

-       ‘Message in a Bottle’ by The Police

This one will admittedly be hard to believe. But trust me, it's a true story. I’ll stake my 38 years of marriage to my Bear. It wasn’t a message in a bottle as the lyrics atop this column convey. No, instead it was scribbled in the sand, written as clearly as if someone traced it:

W+D (Wayne+Dorinda)

To me, it was a sign – one of many – that Dorinda is with me even though I lost her to cancer the evening of April 25. As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. So, see the picture and these thousand words that accompany it. (And minus my byline, this column word count is 1,000.)

Here’s how I discovered that message in the sand on a Gulf Shores beach the morning of Aug. 21. I got there early, making my way to the beach with a chair on my back and carrying a Yeti tumbler of coffee. I set up my chair, slipped off my sandals and enjoyed the calmness and serenity of watching the sun rise in the distance above the Gulf State Park Pier.

There were a handful of other folks on the beach that morning. A photographer. A fisherman. A few other people who like me had their chairs facing east anticipating the rising of a new day. I grabbed a few pictures and had a visit from a heron that snuck up behind me. With my coffee finished, I decided to take a walk along the shore before I headed back to my car to get on with my day. I walked a couple hundred yards or so and there it was: W+D.

It staggered me. Well, given my gait these days, it staggered me more than normal. It took me a moment to realize what I was seeing. It wasn't a dream: W+D (Wayne+Dorinda).

How? It was just before 7 a.m. That stretch of white sand was all but vacant, save for a couple of fellow walkers. And if this had been etched into the sand the night before, wouldn't the rising tide have washed it away overnight? And to be clear, there's no way I could have drawn it myself so neatly. My joints may have permitted me to get down and crawl on the sand. But getting back up would have been another story. There would have been a trail in the sand. Ask my children.

Could someone I know have written this for me? No. I'm new to the area and just starting to make some new friends. Besides, who would have known the path I would take? I collected myself and stared at those letters for a moment before taking some pictures. I had to share this with our two children and some friends.

“No way,” our son responded in a text message. “Just too wild.”

“This is incredible!” one friend responded.

“Oh wow! She’s with you,” said another friend.

“Wow! I love those little signs!!” another friend said.

There is more to this story that seems to be so much more than just a coincidence.

First of all, seeing our initials etched into the sand took me back to 1983. Dorinda and I had been on a handful of dates since initially meeting in October that year. She had me with those eyes from the start. But I wasn’t quite sure how she felt about me. Taking a trip together to a bowling alley with a church youth group, I wondered if there would be another date in our future. But sitting down to score my latest roll, I saw where she had doodled on the scoresheet: D+W. Yes, there would be more dates, and a wedding on Dec. 20, 1986.

Second, walking back toward my chair after seeing the initials in the sand, I noticed their location. In the background was the condominium where Dorinda and I stayed on our first trip to Gulf Shores back in July 1993. We had a 9-month-old baby boy and watched Fourth of July fireworks near that same spot with her family. Just a coincidence or something more?

And finally, with earbuds in my ear, an especially poignant song started playing – “Here Without You” by Mississippi’s 3 Doors Down. Granted, it was on my playlist that morning, but was just one of dozens of songs in the que. Just listen to it. It gave me chills, flashing back to us seeing the group at Orange Beach in August 2023.

Since I lost Dorinda more than four months ago, there have been so many signs indicating she is still with me in spirit. A cardinal. A dragonfly, which sometimes are seen as spirit messengers, landing next to me at one of our favorite places. Hearing her favorite song over and over – “The Boys of Summer” by Don Henley – sometimes with the most incredible timing. There have been many more signs that me and our two children have recognized.

But nothing compares to this one. I mean of all the miles of beaches here, of all the letters in the alphabet ...I've been walking alone since losing her. Que up another song by The Police, “So Lonely.” But I wasn’t alone on that particular Thursday morning. There was the sign that my Bear was walking with me.

I’ve never gotten a tattoo. But if I do, I know what it will say:

W+D

The initials W+D that I discovered while walking on a Gulf Shores beach the morning of Aug. 21.

Another view of the initials, W+D (Wayne+Dorinda).