The Ocean

Apr 7, 2019 | Welcome Column

Prior to moving back to the Sacramento area in the early 90’s. I lived in North San Diego County for 20 years. In-between plumbing jobs and band gigs 5 to 7 nights a week I managed to get in a lot of time at and in the ocean. Old friends were very good surfers. I was not. But I did enjoy boogie boarding and they tolerated me out there. Mind you, I did spend a lot of time watching and studying the surf and how it works. So I pretty much knew where I was supposed to be in order to catch the wave at the perfect time and place. One can get pretty good at this sport provided one pays a lot of attention. Otherwise, one could get into a situation like this!

One day I went ahead and paddled out without watching the surf long enough to know when to get in and the right direction to swim to miss the breaks. As I was minding my own business, staying away from the boys on boards, I found three surfers around me that had just paddled out also. As one of them said to the others, “We better paddle out further to catch this set coming in.” All of a sudden, they were gone. Right about that time I realized I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I looked up and a wave with a face peaking at about 20 feet above me, was about to break right on top of me. Once I was done tumbling around on the ocean floor, I decide to push up and get back to the top of the surf. As I was breaking through the white foamy water, I produced a huge gasp of air into my lungs. My boogie board had broken loose and about 5-10 feet away it was floating upside down. I managed to swim to the boogie board right about the time the second wave of the set was breaking right on top of me. O.K. so here I was again rolling around on the ocean floor. This time I had my boogie board clutched in my arms tighter than I’ve ever held a new born. I surfaced and managed to float onto shore. I sat and let all of the ocean water drain out of every opening on my head. This, by far was one of the most scariest experiences I’ve ever had the chance to endure. Much less survive.

So now we will move forward about 15-16 years. I’m on vacation with my lovely bride. We have hiked down to the ocean in northern California. While we sat and watched the ocean and took in the beautiful surrounding. We were struck by the amazing wonder of the ocean. There were a lot of different birds flying all over the place. There was only a small handful of people hanging out. I’ve always enjoyed watching the wild-life interact with nature. The way birds would fly right along a wave as it was peaking, not yet at the point of breaking. Well, all of a sudden I noticed a seagull that was a yearling. Still all speckled tan, no white and gray whatsoever. This bird had been taken down by a wave and washed up onto the shore. Never in all of my years of observing activities at the beach, had I seen any type of wild-life get caught up in a wave like this seagull had experienced. This seagull had been able to get out of the surf long enough to flap it’s wings a few times and get most of the water off. So one would think, all is well. This seagull decided it was time to, move on, and fly off. I sat there and watched as this bird was hit again by a wave and had washed up on shore. This time around, the bird didn’t seem to be doing as well as the first time. I just couldn’t take it any longer. I looked over at my lovely bride and told her, I couldn’t take it any longer. So I took my shoes off real quick. Waddled out into the surf and picked up this young seagull. Something that I have never done, you know, mess with the way of the world. I carried this young bird all the way back to the edge of the cliffs that rose above us. Not a drop of water could have made it up to this bird now. My lovely bride and myself sat there for at least another hour. And the whole time we sat there, this seagull was standing on a rock just dripping wet. Water just kept dripping off of this bird. When it was time to leave the beach, young Mr. Seagull was still on the rock. A fond farewell was bid him.
As one might notice. These two tales are very similar. With the exception of the subject in the first tale, “Knows Better!”

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