Surfs up

Surfin' USA / Beach Boys












I went to visit the ocean today. As previously mentioned, it is my favorite place. It is the place that brings calm and a feeling of belonging. With the craziness of the recent past, and in particular the past week, I thought I more than needed it.



I typically go to the same beach, a private beach on the coast of Rhode Island. I’ve been going there all my life… except in the summer. Actually, I rarely go to the beach in the summer. All that heat? Crowds? No thanks. My relationship with the beach is far more gothic.


Except….


There was one summer in my misspent youth that I have been thinking about. It was my favorite summer, still is,  after all these years. I certainly don’t remember all of it. I remember it like snap shots in a photo album, but more than that, I remember the feeling. The feeling of youth, carefree and happy, the feeling of having friends that meant the world for you and romance before you really knew what the word meant. I fell in love that summer, though I wouldn't have described it that way then.  I learned the meaning for friendship. I got my first taste of 'grown-upness'.  I rode my ten speed. We hung out. We talked. We played in someone’s pool. But at least for me, it was truly the best of times and what makes me cry at movies like Stand By Me.  It was, for me, one of the few times that I recall my life feeing "normal."


That summer we did not go to the private beach of the RI coast. Or if we did, it is not the day I remember. That day we were at Ocean Beach. In my memory it is much bigger than it is, of course I was a bit smaller.  The surf was much stronger and the board walk much bigger. I remember the excitement I always get seeing a carnival ride, though I wouldn’t ride it.  I remember being teased and not minding, though I put up the obligatory complaint.  And I remember a good feeling of hunger as the aroma of concession stand hamburgers filled the air. I was spending the day with my two best friends in the world. It was an adventure. It was a day that I will always remember and makes me smile, not for the feeling of calm of the ocean, but for the feeling of a spark that holds all promise, hope and possibility.