The Sea, The Sea

Two recent weekends, I have found myself staring, hypnotized, into the Atlantic Ocean.

View from hotel, Virginia Beach

Disclaimer: I don't have any particularly elegant turns of phrase or insights into the wonders of the ocean. All I am is a person who is kind of obsessed. I hadn't really put it together until I was flipping through the pictures and videos on my phone, and SO MANY (like 1 in 8) of them were images of the water. Who does that? It's like fish porn. Aquaobsession. I can't explain it. But none of the pictures or videos are good enough. Nothing can quite capture the magic of being...actually, physically being...by the waterside. And I think that's why I keep trying. Maybe it's not about being able to relive the sights, or smells. I'm trying to capture a feeling.

I know I am not the only one who can sit contentedly for hours upon end, staring out at the ocean, watching the waves and listening to the soft explosions it makes upon the shore. It's soothing. It's rhythmic. There's a reason that "ocean waves" comes installed on pretty much every machine ever designed to make sleep noises. And then there's that smell....salt ocean water smell. Clean and fresh and like a hit of pure joy. One of my exes used to say I felt this way because my parents were in the Navy...wherein I gently had to remind him that the Navy and Pirates are two separate organizations with occasional overlaps in policy.Yar.

 Same view, slightly stormier (and about 25 degrees colder)

Interestingly enough, I do know some people who are deathly terrified of the ocean. This is also a viewpoint with merit, and funnily, another reason why I find the ocean so incredible. It is fucking DEADLY and filled with some scary shit. Just as much as the sea is this incredibly beautiful part of nature, it is also strong and unpredictable and can end your life rapidly. (See: Drowning, Tsunamis, Sharks, Jellyfish etc.) Drowning is, I imagine, one of the scariest ways to die. All that intensity aside, though, I still worship the seaside. I love the beach even more when it is stormy. Maybe I just think of the ocean as having qualities I admire in a person - fascinating and calming, but also strong and bad-ass. Perhaps I love the sea so much because I want to be like it when I grow up. Old and wise and salty. I seem well on my way.

Newport, Rhode Island