I realize the picture is a wee bit weird, but I admire the symmetry.

Here’s the thing about the ocean:

It’s weird. There’s slime, and seaweed, and sticks, and fish that nibble at your toes. Not to mention all manner of man-made trash that washes up. The difference is, in the Gulf you can actually SEE what’s touching you, rubbing against your leg. Whereas in the Atlantic, you just visualise the worst & hope that if it is death coming for you, he’ll make it snappy.

I had seaweed & God-knows-what-else tangled in my hair every day this week, but I just pretended I was a mermaid & went on. The waves knocked me down, flipped me upside down, drove me to my knees and skidded my elbows across the gritty sand. I got back up for more, pushing my seaweed infested hair out of my eyes, snorting and snotting from the salt in my eyes and up my nose, making them water and burn.

It was a constant struggle against the current, fighting the waves crashing into me. They fizzle out but there’s more behind it. Sure, you can stay in the shallows where the danger is minimal, but why would you want to? Where’s the fun & adventure in that? It’s a battle I will never win, me against the pull of the moon.

Something drives us Tennesseans here…we’re everywhere! It’s a VOL nation. We trade our mosquitoes for dragonflies, and our maple trees for palms. We exclaim over the hordes of lizards on bushes & boardwalks and pretend we’re not petrified of getting lost in a new city. We vacation in safe places, beaches that aren’t overcrowded and you feel safe leaving your umbrella, towels, books, and ipod on the beach when you go in for lunch. What a nice place.

And so I sit here on our balcony, with my sunburned feet, listening to Old Crow and Bob Dylan, admiring my new freckles, eating cantaloupe, and watching the waves roll in incessantly, waiting on the storm…waiting.

I could be safe at home, or even inside on the couch, away from the brutal elements but my time here is limited and I will choose to spend it with the ocean.

I will always choose the ocean.