12/17/10

You and Me and the Sea


It's been 80 days since I last held my breath and dove under the waves.

It was late September when I grabbed my chair and my Asbury Park teen beach badge (I look 12) and plopped down in front of the ocean.

I brought a sweatshirt that day, in case of a cold fall breeze, but the air was still. I stretched out. I looked at the children, their heads bobbing in the sea. I jumped up from my chair and into the ocean.

It was warm; over 65 degrees, for sure. I read recently that Bruce Springsteen, a fellow Monmouth County dweller, swims in the ocean until November. I believe it. The ocean is warmer in the fall than the air that surrounds it.

I swam for an hour that day, knowing it would be my last until June. All summer long, after every sick spell and hospitalization, I had gone straight to the ocean and jumped in. A baptism, of sorts. My orientation, back into the outside world.

Now that it is cold, and the New York City wind stings my face, I wish for nothing more than the ocean. For me, it is my only healer.

And so I will sit at my desk, Googling flights to Costa Rica and Miami until spring breaks and the summer sea welcomes me once again.

7 comments:

  1. I hear ya! There is nothing that the ocean can't cure-It cures the winter blues for me-even just a walk along it-cures my brothers psoriasis in the summer...It gives everyone a sense of peace and contentment.

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  2. Love your love of the ocean.

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  3. I'd kill for summer right now too...

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  4. Every time when I come back from a scuba trip, I always start planning my next trip. Like the minue I get back.

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  5. I can't wait for you to feel the sun and water, either, Kelly. xo

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  6. this is my favorite blog of yours

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