The Ocean

I miss the ocean .It's the best exercise I get all year.I can jump up and down like an idiot and no one notices.I love the feel the the surf swirling around my legs at low tide.When I was a kid, my cousin Carolyn & I would pretend we were in a washing machine. I love BIG waves.Watching for their ridges thinning out like razorbacks seconds before they curl and crash down on your head.Of course I outsmart them and dive beneath them bobbing up on the otherside.Some days they come in quick succession so as not to give you a moments rest.Treading water becomes tiresome and your biceps scream for a break.The tide is coming in and your toes cannot touch to get a brief respite.Treading and diving under, treading and diving under.There was one of those days,years ago, I was sure I was going to drown .Fatigue was getting the best of me.My arms were becoming limp egg noodles.I couldn't 'ride one in',they were breaking too close together.I took care of enough broken necks in ICU in one of the shore hospitals and knew not to gamble with them.Anyway, eventually enough distance came between those beastly waves and here I am to tell it.
I miss the sound of the sea ,especially on soft summer nights.I loved getting to the jetti long before dawn, while the sky was still black and stars still bright.Strap my corkers over my sneakers to grip the boulders and hop from one slippery rock to the other.My son-in-law taught me all kinds of neat tricks to keep me from getting killed.Hang the flashlight with a cord around my neck to free my hands and it was amazing the periphery that was illuminated to see.Safer than a hat light which spoiled night vision.I could never decide which fishing pole to use, so I brought two.Then bait and bucket and bag of lures,knife,pliers,etc in tow and find the perfect rock to sit on and wait for the tide to come in.Gradually other fishermen would start arriving or I would suddenly realize there were others at the far end of the jetti on the point fishing for stripers long before I arrived. I didn't often see too many women there unless they were reading a book while their husbands fished. That amazed me.Many fishermen told me they wished their wives would come with them.It's a fun place! I remember one day fishing on the channel side of the jetti in Manasquan.There were a lot of Mexican and Chinese fishing that day. They are very good fishermen .The wind was at my back and I tossed my line 3/4's of the way across the channel. They, all at once ,leaped up and cheered! It was hilarious!
I love the quiet peacefulness of fishing.The salt air and smells and seagulls circling overhead.The grey pink dawn and the sun rising out of the sea.Did you know that the sun sleeps in the sea and rises out of it every morning ? I was there. I've seen it happen many times.