Pacific

We sped thru narrow, curvy roads. The gigantic trees stood at attention like Marines saluting us as we raced to the coast. She wanted to see the ocean....the Pacific Ocean......her sidekick obliged.

I hadn't seen the Pacific Ocean in over 8 years. The first time was on a trip out to San Francisco that summer after I graduated from college. We drove along the 101, enjoying the beautiful coastline. That summer we didn't walk up to the ocean......we admired it from the beach as an acquintance indulged in some hang gliding.

This time we shook hands.....the Pacific and me. Growing up with Lake Michigan in my "backyard", I was use to staring out into the horizon and seeing the water stretch forever. But an ocean is different.....even the sand was different. We arrived near Cannon Beach and from the street I could see the coast. It was a lovely little town....too bad we couldn't stay longer to explore more. As we got closer to the beach....there it was.... the orange sun glowing among the purple, red, and pink hues. Fog was rolling in off to my right.....seeping thru the forest. I could see a lighthouse hiding behind the fog curtain. We arrived in time to watch the glorious sunset. Others might grow tired of sunsets....saying "a sunset is a sunset...you've seen one ....you've seen them all" But it isn't every day that I get to see a sunset over the Pacific Ocean. I think of the vastness of the ocean....the creatures in it.....the countries that lie beyond it. We walked up to the ocean....we stood face to face....exchanged smiles. We played a game of "catch me if you can"......running away as the tide got closer to us. Collecting rocks. The ocean waves foamed as they reached the beach. I commented to her how we weren't leaving footprints. As quickly as our feet moved forward, our footprints vanished.....sinking....disappearing into the sand.

Before we left the beach, she wrote her name on the sand......
"write mine's too" i cried out...
yeah, let's leave a mark.......there we were like little girls again.