“… Tears, Sweat, or the sea.” – Isak Denison.
It’s true. Yesterday, in the spirit of the holiday weekend, I got to venture down to Monterey with some friends to enjoy the warmer weather that summer has brought us. It was a beautiful site and a wonderful feeling to walk out onto this sunny, inviting beach that was virtually empty. When I got there I stood on the shore, letting the foamy tide wash over my feet, thinking to myself “damn, this is cold…”
Later on while sitting back up on the shore, enjoying a cold beer, I watched a friend walk down to the water to test out the water and then it hit me. I couldn’t leave without jumping in. At that second I put down my beer and sprinted for the water then took the dive. It was like a combination of jumping into a bucket of ice and championing a great feat with an even greater prize. Exhilarating. I opened my eyes under the water for a moment with the sound of water passing by my ears and all of a sudden everything made much more sense. I then pushed down on the water to lift my head above the waves and stand up with the sand between my toes. After wiping the salt water from my face I turned around to the shore, smiling at my friends, fist in air as a sign of my victory.
It felt amazing as I walked up to the shore after splashing and jumping around a bit. When I got to shore I told the others about how amazing it felt to be back in the water while I toweled off. It was as if I had just seen a best friend for the first time in years. Barely any drier than I was, something came over me and I dropped my towel to run back into the water. There wasn’t even a thought behind it. I was just so compelled to go back. As I jumped over the waves, doing back flips and throwing my body around, the only thought in my mind was about how happy I was at that moment. Jumping around in the water felt more like catching up with an old friend than anything else. After a while I stood up and looked out over the horizon and realized that I could never live far away from the ocean.