Sensations of the Surf & Sun
Originally published on 10/15/2012 on previous blog
This past Saturday was a gorgeous day in Galveston. After sleeping in later than I had planned, I joined Judy—my sister-in-law and new roomie, and Harry—the dirty dog (he’s really not dirty, I just like saying that from the story book I remember from grade school) for a nice walk along the beach at Galveston Island State Park. Judy and Harry have been walking this beat for months and can move at a decent clip but my out of shape and overweight body just couldn’t keep up. I had already advised Judy that if I fell behind to just keep on trucking and pick me up on the way back to the car!
I have no sense of measuring distance without a car speedometer in front of me, so I can’t say how far I did walk. But, shortly into the trek my midget legs tired out and I opted to sit on a log and just enjoy the surf and sun while Judy and Harry got their exercise. I fully intended to capture the perfect picture, as I have so often before during my trips to the state park, but my high dollar smart phone camera decided to stop working. Go figure, right? So, this picture is thanks to Judy.Sitting in the warm, 84° sunshine and watching the waves on the water just got me thinking about all the wonderful sensations that this atmosphere offers. The sound of the waves washing ashore is often quite loud and drowns out all other sounds around me. When walking with Judy on Saturday, I had to be close to hear what she was saying because the noise was pretty loud. When I sat and just listened, the crashing waves just swallowed up any other noise around me. The feel of the sun is often quite warm and can burn the skin quickly without protection. However, the cool breeze directly off the water mixes with the heat and swirls around your skin and you barely even notice how hot it does get. There is a distinctly sweet smell at the beach, which I am sure comes from some of the plant life along the dunes. This faint sweetness mixes with the salty smell of the water and the faint smell of wet sand to create a soothing mixture that no wax candle or fragrant room spray on the market can imitate. The taste you get from sitting on the edge of the gulf is salty for sure. Whether from sweat on your skin or spray from the water, you pretty much only get salt. Finally, my favorite sense of all in this setting is seeing. On this particular day I could see the waves leaping tall off the surface of the water. Big, rolling waves that could easily swallow you up if you were careless. Some days the waves are small and flat, but today they were huge. They danced and rolled in synchronous fashion until breaking on the shore. These big waves are the kind my father always loved. For many summers we would play in the waves at Galveston, with Dad always venturing out further than most of us, especially me. His fearlessness grew from the ice cold beer he enjoyed as part of his beach vacation. I can’t tell you how often someone else had to stay by his side for fear of him being swept under if one of these big waves knocked him down. But he loved every minute of it and so did we. As I watched the big waves on this particular day I thought about my Dad a lot. As I begin this journey of living in Galveston, I also still mourn his passing from almost nine months ago. I look at the waves, feel the sun, smell and taste the sensations of the surf and I remember Dad, and this makes me even happier to be here in a place that I was blessed to have shared with him on so many vacations.