Catching Up

Friday morning swim. I have no meetings today. I have found that 0 is just the right number when it comes to meetings. One isn’t bad but it’s just one more opportunity for someone to ask me to actually work. It’s too risky if you ask me.

I leave my apartment at 7:30 to June gloom skies. As I pass the little summit between Blue Lantern and Chula Vista streets, the ocean comes into view. It’s hard to find the line between water and sky. It looks like one large grey canvas. Still, it’s beautiful. I feel so blessed to live where I do. I can’t believe that in just a few weeks, I will be living right across the street from the beach parking lot.

I soon park my car just as a group of swimmers are showering off after their swim. They tell me how great it was and assure me that I will enjoy myself. I have absolutely no doubt.

The water looks smooth and calm. Everything here feels so peaceful and it’s quiet. When I get to the beach the tide is high. The water rushes over my feet and it feels pretty good. The buoy data reported 68 and one of the swimmers up at the parking lot said 66. Either way sounds pretty nice to me.

I get to my usual starting spot and there are two gulls hanging out right at the water’s edge. I get particularly close to one and I am surprised to find him holding his ground. Also, I really have no idea if it was a him. As I walk into the water, it feels cool but not at all abrasively so. I have no problem getting right in and diving beneath the surface.

Waves seem to have died down a bit since my last swim, but there are still some here. I swim south today towards the headlands. It feels great to be out here. The water is a pale blue as I stare towards an ocean floor that I cannot see. I can feel a steady pulse of movement from the water and it rolls over me in a very consistent rhythm. It’s really hard to tell if it is pushing or resisting or both. I’ve been wondering where all the junior guard buoys are this year. I have only seen a couple but I know there are many more from previous years. What about the buoy that is always placed at the south end of the beach?

Oh. Here it is! I see it. The one with the star and the fish. This makes me happy for reasons I cannot fully explain. I’m not going to even try. I’ll just choose to be happy.

I reach the south edge of the swim, pause and then start to head back. I try to set a course to intersect with that southern buoy. I manage to reach it and spend a little quality time catching up over the past year’s big events. A lot has happened since we have seen each other. My divorce finalized, I started playing piano again, I met a girl. Where do I start?

I keep swimming north towards salt creek. I pause again right in front of the little lifeguard hut. The light is starting to penetrate the clouds. I see an orb through the cloud cover but no sign of blue sky. I know it is up there. This extra light on the water is beautiful. My heart is filled with gratitude and I take a little time to thank the ocean for the gifts it has given me.

I keep swimming and soon I nearly collide with a group of pre-adolescents. It’s the junior guards beginning their day with a swim to one of the buoys and back. I look to the shore and there are about a dozen bodies with bright orange jerseys and then looking west to sea I see someone sitting on a paddle board that looks somewhat official. I wait for the traffic to clear and then I am on my way.

The rest of the swim is just as pleasant as the rest. The water is comfortable and as smooth as butter. I stare out towards the horizon and I am mesmerized by the texture of striations laid out until forever in front of me. They are constantly moving but somehow every frame imprints itself onto my memory as an isolated slice of time that I am still gazing at even now.