We’re at the beach for a few days. Coming from Oklahoma Lake ”, which is a pretty different experience.
Which lake you went to depended largely on your particular location at the time. For the longest period of time it was Fort Cobb Reservoir, where one friend had a ski boat, one had a sailboat and several had motor homes.
Those are the best kind of friends to have when you live near a lake. Although we now live near Lake Hickory
Owning a boat is a lot like owning a house with a swimming pool. You will spend countless hours, and untold dollars, maintaining it for your friends to come and visit occasionally to enjoy it. It didn’t take long to figure out that it was much better to be the friend who came and visited (usually bringing appropriate refreshments, of course) than to be the actual owner of these money pits.
The beach is different, though, because if you live 5 hours away there’s no thought to owning a boat. The rules are different for small boats on the ocean, and I have no desire to learn them. We have sworn off small ocean boats, in fact, having been trapped more than once on an endless boat ride to nowhere, screaming to make polite conversation over the roar of the engine and trying not be thrown off while the proud owner, “ . . . opens her up to show us what she’ll do,” – followed by the dead silence of an engine that suddenly had a massive coronary, leaving us stranded in the middle of the ocean and potentially fighting over the last soggy saltine in hopes of staving off starvation for a bit longer.
For someone used to flat, grassy prairie, this can be pretty traumatic. Last time it happened (and it’s happened more than once), we swore never to get on another boat unless it has a drink of the day and room service.
Cruise ships aren’t boats. They are resorts that happen to float. There’s a big difference.
The beach is a different kind of water, though. You don’t have to go in deeper than you are comfortable and, given that animals large enough to eat a human (even one my size) live there and can easily get annoyed that someone is tramping through their front room, I generally stay shallow enough to be able to see my feet, or at least shallow enough to jump and run if I am startled (like when a piece of seaweed brushes against me). Unless you get overly hot, it’s not necessary that you even get in the water.
Most people choose to lie in the sun, hopefully slathered in some type of chemical protection so that they don’t end up with skin that looks like a cheap knockoff for a Louis Vuitton bag.
Coming from a background with a philosophy that you work in the sun and rest in the shade, lying on the beach for hours on end is somewhat perplexing. I’m tired of it after 15 minutes. I will continue to stay there, though, if I have an umbrella over my lounge chair to provide a bit of shade, a book on my iPod to listen to and things to read. Then I can last a couple of hours before I’m ready to go off and do something else.
Something inside, where it’s air conditioned.
The best part about being at the beach is that you’re not at home. There’s no way that you can do any of that myriad of little things that are continuously required at your house, even if you want to. You can’t mow the yard, water the plants, clean the kitchen or do laundry. Those tasks all belong to the rental company that owns the place you’re staying.
All you have to do is lie on the sun and enjoy it, while thinking about where you’re going to eat dinner tonight.
You’re at the beach.
3 comments:
Amen brother!! I never quite understood and never subscribed to the affinity for lying on a strip of sand to demonstrate the fundamental properties of ultraviolet light. While there is something soothing and serene about the waves and the sounds thereof, the biting flies and the cacophony of gulls does detract from the overall experience. Of course, the bits of string wrapped loosely around nubile sun worshipers of the opposite sex can likewise lure one from the respite of the air conditioning into the direct sunlight. Being fair skinned, I’ve always tried to avoid the dangers of melanoma…and a bottle of previously mentioned chemical concoction hurled at my head by a non-indulgent wife. Just because my sunglasses sprang from my face as I reflected upon what designers regarded as appropriate beach attire this year for young ladies…or mature ladies for that matter. Quite frankly, I think dermatologists have some influence in that regard; it’s good for their business and very bad for my health and well being, not to mention the effects of direct sunlight on my fair skin.
I love the beach. I hate boats. I hate the heat. But I love the beach. Wish I were there.
Ralph - as to boats: I have heard often that there are two days you really love your boat - the day you buy it and the day you sell it. I had a neighbor, for five years, who had his boat in the driveway for almost all of the time doing some repair or another. It hardly ever knew water.
Pool - had one of them. I sderiously considered filling it in with dirt on more than one occasion though there were times it was great - just should have belonged to someone else who would do the work and bear the expense.
Summary - boats and pools are wonderful as long as they belong to someone else and you have great use of them.
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