Day Two of the Great Florida Adventure
Today, L. and I went shopping during the heat of the day because neither of us handle the heat that well. After we came in from that, she napped while I did some work. Then, we went down to the beach for a late evening swim. Well, she waded in, and I intended to actually swim some.
But, of course, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I waded out onto the first sandbar, turned around to say something to Laura who was still sitting at the water's edge...and saw a big fucking sting ray behind me, less than six feet away. I'm pretty sure nobody's EVER seen a fat girl run that fast out of the water before.
So, yeah, so much for that swim. I'm not one of those people who's overly paranoid about sharks, but rays genuinely terrify me. Once I bailed out, I just stood on the shore with Laura and watched the tide coming in.
Then, we came in, showered, got dressed, and went to a nice restaurant, which gave me an excuse to put on a cute top and makeup and straighten my hair for the first time in forever. I had broiled grouper with a macadamia nut crust and an orange-ginger glaze. Oh. My. God. I'm pretty sure I heard angels singing with every bite I took. There was also a salad, rice pilaf, and grilled green beans as well. That easily ranked up there as one of the top five meals I've ever had in my life.
After that, we came back to the hotel and put on more comfortable clothes. L. had brought some liquor with her, so we made ourselves drinks. I broke the seal on a bottle of pineapple-coconut rum and mixed it with orange-pineapple-banana juice. (I only had one, though. I have no desire to die from liver failure via alcohol and crazy meds.) We took our drinks out on the deck, stretched out on a couple of lounge chairs, and watched the waves roll in and the stars in the sky.
Apparently, there are still stragglers from the meteor shower earlier in the month floating around because while we only sat out for a couple of hours, we saw about 5 shooting stars. Since we were closer to the hotel than we were last night, I was able to download a star map on my phone as well, which resulted in lots more constellation-hunting. AND I was able to identify Sagittarius as soon as we sat down out there, without the star map, LOL. Yay for learning!
Panama City Beach is actually not my favorite area on the Emerald Coast, but I don't care. I have my wonderful friend L. here with me, and I have the ocean and the sky. That's really all that matters. Well, I mean, the rum was nice, too, but not totally necessary. :p
I've missed having someone to talk to unreservedly about things. It's nice being able to speak frankly about anything without worrying about how it'll be perceived. There's a reason this girl has been my friend since our sorority days.
She has no idea how much I needed this, but I will always be grateful to her. Being near the ocean--especially at night, but even during the day--is a mystical experience for me. One day, I swear I will live near the sea. When I'm close to it, I'm as close to being happy as I'll probably ever be in my life...and I'm fine with that. I'm sure I will be poor, crazy, and alone my whole life, but if I can spend it near the coast, perhaps even with some friends, even if it's just when they're on vacation, I won't consider it a wasted life. The ocean makes me feel closer to God than I ever feel anywhere else.
So, yeah, like I said--mystical experience. And, yes, it sounds insane, but I'm actually quite level-headed (if a little sleep-deprived) at the moment.
Life is good right now. The feeling won't last long, but that makes it all the more precious, I suppose. There have been so few moments like this in my life that I refuse to ever let them slip through my fingers. I'll cling tightly to this place, to these memories, to get me through yet another long, hard fall and winter. And maybe one day, I can live somewhere that has no natural seasons--the tropics, the land of perpetual summer--and not have to go through this torment every year.
I love you, Mother Ocean.
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