ode to the ocean
Oh my God! This time next week we will be out on the open ocean. TSO, RugbyGirl, S, B1 & B2 and I are setting sail on a 5 nights and 5 days cruise to the Bahamas, Grand Turk and Caicos Islands. This was the year that I decided that, from this year on out until I die, I want to go somewhere that I've never been. So why not start with a cruise!? I can't wait, can't wait, can't wait! I have never been on a cruise so that makes it all the more exciting. I have decided that I don't care if I sit poolside soaking up the sun, or staring out at the ocean for hours, or laying on sandy shores. None of it matters. What matters is that I will be having this once in a lifetime adventure with some of my friends, something I will look back on in 50 years and be grateful for.
I love the smell of salt air; the way the ocean air feels different and more exciting; the way the ocean breezes and salt splashes wash over your face making it tingle with mystery; the endlessness of the ocean; it's very ability to make you feel lost and giddy with adventure all at once.
As all good adventures go there have been many months of eager anticipation and planning--buying tickets (both cruise and plane), filling out the online paperwork about passports, etc.--which has led to the final stages of buying sunscreen and packing (still working on the latter). And now, Monday just can't come fast enough.
Thinking of the sea reminds me of my Dad, who was a sailor in his youth. Something gets driven into you when you spend so much time looking out at the lonliness and loveliness of the sea; it is no wonder that literature has claimed the ocean as a friend, a partner, a force fighting against man himself. Thinking of Dad and all the things that the ocean is or becomes for all of us led me to a book both my Dad and I enjoyed, The Old Man and the Sea:
"But the old man always thought of her as feminine and as something that gave or withheld great favors, and if she did wild or wicked things it was because she could not help them. The moon affects her as it does a woman, he thought..."
~ Ernest Hemingway
And to this ocean I go...
I love the smell of salt air; the way the ocean air feels different and more exciting; the way the ocean breezes and salt splashes wash over your face making it tingle with mystery; the endlessness of the ocean; it's very ability to make you feel lost and giddy with adventure all at once.
As all good adventures go there have been many months of eager anticipation and planning--buying tickets (both cruise and plane), filling out the online paperwork about passports, etc.--which has led to the final stages of buying sunscreen and packing (still working on the latter). And now, Monday just can't come fast enough.
Thinking of the sea reminds me of my Dad, who was a sailor in his youth. Something gets driven into you when you spend so much time looking out at the lonliness and loveliness of the sea; it is no wonder that literature has claimed the ocean as a friend, a partner, a force fighting against man himself. Thinking of Dad and all the things that the ocean is or becomes for all of us led me to a book both my Dad and I enjoyed, The Old Man and the Sea:
"But the old man always thought of her as feminine and as something that gave or withheld great favors, and if she did wild or wicked things it was because she could not help them. The moon affects her as it does a woman, he thought..."
~ Ernest Hemingway
And to this ocean I go...
Comments