Loose Leaf Notes

AKA: Taking the ocean cure…
I’ve begun to look forward to my nightly walks on the beach with anticipation, almost as if I am waiting to meet a lover. Every evening has its own romance and beauty, so much so that when I awake in the morning I find that I’m filled with the sensual memories of the night before.

As I step down the seawall stairway and my bare feet touch the sand, the first thing I notice is a soft haze hanging over the horizon. The line between sea and sky has melted, making for an eerie effect, and causing the large looming clouds above – a mix of light and dark ones – to stand out. The translucent ocean water is uncharacteristically calm, sweetly lapping the shore. I feel a sense of wonder, as if I have never really seen the beach before, and now I’m truly seeing it. It looks pre-historic and religious at the same time. I think Jesus might have walked on water on a night just like this.

Soon, my eye is drawn to a young woman in a bathing suit. She walks out to the shoreline and then wades into the water as if her destiny demands her to. Patches of golden light reflected from the sunset peek through the clouds. Nothing looks ordinary against this backdrop, and I imagine she is preparing to be baptized, or maybe to take her own life.

Two young men have already waded far out in the shallow low tide until it is up to their waists. I’m happy to spot my first sandpiper of the season at the water’s edge. A scout for the rest of the flock, due sometime in August, I wonder? When I return my gaze out to the water, I see that the men are heading back to the shore. One is holding his arms above his head to steady a large square plastic container that was not visible before. Curious, I time my pace so that I can meet up with them. “Fish?” I ask. They set down the container, causing the water inside it to slosh about. Taking off the cover, they proudly show me their harvest of large clams. They dig them with their feet by feeling with their heels for the hard rounded shells, the dark-haired one tells me. After we marvel at their catch and gently poke a couple (to convince ourselves that they’re alive), I continue on my walk, heading back to my starting place.

The woman in the bathing suit is alive and well. She’s wet now and walking with focused attention away from the water towards one of the beachfront homes. I imagine she feels better for having taken the ocean cure like people have been doing since the beginning of time.

Photo: Contemplating the cure? Sherry and Colleen at Rockport, Massachusetts, taken by Nelson.