I Love the Sea…

After a long night of chilling with the gang at C’s house (involving four shots of whiskey, a shot of cherry vodka, and nine beers) I woke up early to get myself ready for work. My day usually doesn’t start until after I’m finished with my morning exercises (makes me feel good, I don’t want to look like a twig forever) and a big breakfast. At noon, I got dressed and drove down to the club where a small (60 person) golf outing was taking place. Fortunately for me, they were only doing breakfast and lunch (no dinner) so I wouldn’t have to stay very late. There was also an obscene amount of people working it (I wonder how that will affect my pay) and I found myself with very little to actually do so I hi-jacked the head chef’s computer to see what was new in the world. By two o’clock, everyone had gone home and we broke down the outing setup (it was right around here where all I could think about was swimming).

I went home, took my second shower of the day, ate lunch, grabbed a milkshake, and decided to go for a drive by the shore. For me, this has become a near-daily ritual (better than some of my old ones) and the sights and smells of the waterfront bring nothing but peace to my cluttered mind. As opposed to visiting some of the bigger and more populated beaches, I decided to stay somewhat local and drove down the street to Union Beach. Now, some people might think of Union Beach as being kind of sketchy (I walked through a few beat up looking neighborhoods) but having lived in this area my whole life I felt nothing but a warm sense of familiarity. The tide was low and the algae covered rocks were exposed to the intense rays of the mid-day sun. The beach itself is never too crowded, as it only seems to serve the local community, but I was surprised to see as many people out there today as I did.

I eventually made my way out onto the sand (having left my shoes and socks in the car) and walked along the water’s edge. The water itself (even for Union) was surprisingly clean looking and the only garbage I noticed was that of several dead crabs which had obviously fallen victim to a few hungry seagulls. But hey, that’s nature for you. Before I even realized it (having lost myself in the view of the calm water’s before me) I noticed that I was on a stretch of the beach where there wasn’t a single person to be found. Feeling adventurous, I made my way along a small path which was surrounded by tall grass and disappeared behind a large sand dune. To be honest, I could’ve gotten murdered out here and no one probably would’ve noticed because I was far from the nearest house by this point and the main beach area was far behind me as well. I don’t consider myself to be much of a gambler but sometimes I love taking chances!

Glad I did because when I came to the end of the path it opened up into a small peaceful estuary. I was overwhelmed by the solitude I had found (I guess I don’t mind being alone sometimes) and took more than a few minutes to appreciate this as I sat down on a clean patch of sand and watched as tiny bait fish swam around in the shallow water in front of me. Time ceased to exist and could only be measured by how much of my milkshake was left and how many cigarettes I had smoked. Clearly, I was not the only one to come out this far as I noticed a few other sets of footprints and two empty beer cans lying in the grass. However, there wasn’t a single person in sight as I continued to bask in the view (and the brutal sun). Finally, I decided to keep walking and see how much further I could go. I leapt over a small stream and climbed over a reed covered sand dune and found out quickly that I couldn’t go much further than that before the ground became to soggy to walk on (low tide still).

Satisfied with my journey into somewhat unknown territory, I decided to make my way back to the main beach area. I followed my tracks from the estuary and the grassy path before I finally came out on the main beach again and could once again see civilization. For a while there, I had almost forgotten about it. So I jumped into my car and I drove back into town where I got some pizza, which is the way any great story should end. With pizza.

Till next time, let us rock in peace!

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