“Catch a wave and you’re sitting on top of the world.” – The Beach Boys
The boy was talking to the waves, arguing with them, perhaps even trying to fight them.
I was at the beach, my season opener, and I was already in a great mood. The playlist was cued, the sun was out. And then I saw him.
He was about eight years of age, and he was having some kind of communication with the waves, part dance, part karate. If I had to interpret, I’d say he was getting up the nerve to go in. I finally stuck my toes in and stopped paying attention, thinking about the sensations of the moment – the visual (sun, open sky); the sound (waves crashing); the feeling (sand, water); and the smell (salt). What have I left out? Oh, taste. We’d just had bagels, and everything somehow tastes better at the beach.
If I wrote about this, it would be the perfect sense memory moment. Then I turned and I saw the boy, having plunged in, happier than he was – if this was possible – mere moments before.
And in that moment, I was on top of the world.