Life is a Beach

I've only been back three days, but I'm already missing the beach. I miss the sound of the waves as it crashes into the shore. I miss the smell of the ocean as it combine with breathable oxygen. I miss the powerful current from the sea as I attempt to stay in one place but fail miserably and end up a quarter mile north of my stationary beach towel. I miss the feel of the sand between my toes and fingers as I dig, bury, toss, and generally play with while everyone tans. I miss the long walks on the beach in the pitch black night as the island falls asleep. But most importantly, I miss the laid-back worry free attitude that I had as oppose to the laid-back worry free attitude that I pretend to have.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a pretty laid-back guy. But worry free, I am not!

This vacation was exactly what the doctor ordered. Out of the eight days that we were there, I thought of nothing but relaxation for six of them. The stress of everyday life was left unpacked in Baltimore. I didn't think of bills. I didn't think of work. I didn't think of anything that usually would keep me up late at night. And the two days that I did worry about, was me worrying about my burnt skin. The best thing about it was that it was a natural process. I didn't start packing for my vacation thinking that my goal for this vacation is to not worry about anything and leave my stress behind. It just happened.

My days were pretty much all the same. I would wake up at around noon with the rest of the crew, some earlier and some later, but on average noon. Eat a light breakfast then head straight to the beach, which was walking distance. For the next four to five hours, I would enjoy all the amenities the beach has to offer. Most of my time was spent in the water, were I bobbed up and down on top of each wave, sometime I would go under one to cool off and other times I would try to ride one to have fun. I would try to swim against the current only to realize that I was pretty much swimming in place. I would also try to float on my back, but my fear of sharks always won out and I would quickly straighten my self up and looked around for fins. There was even a time where I tried to catch a big wave and as soon as I was about to turn and start swimming, a flying fish jumped out of the water from the wave right in front of me and scare the living shit out of me. Other times I would sit on the shallow end and let the waves carry me to shore, this is also where I swallow the most sea water.

I was in the water alone a couple times, but seeing as this beach wasn't crowded at all, I didn't spend too much time in the water alone. When on the sand I tried to keep myself busy. I'm not a big fan of just lying around tanning, especially since I tan and burn so easily.

I don't wear sunscreen lotion because I'm allergic to anything scented or that has fragrance which is pretty much 90% of the sunscreen product out. There are sunscreen lotion for sensitive skin, but I can never find them, and when I do I don't buy them because they are so expensive and I hardly wear sunscreen anyway. Why are things that are good for you always expensive? That's another topic altogether. I sometime get kids sunscreen, but I find that a lot of them still use aloe or fragrance, almost like they are regular sunscreen that just slaps a kids label on them.

Anyway, I burnt myself on the very first day at the beach and by the third day I knew that if I wanted to keep going to the beach I would need some kind of protection, so I took a gamble and decided to put on some sunscreen lotion that was lying around the house. I had my Benadryl on hand and ready to go in case I started to break out in hives. Lucky for me it was safe. The label said that it was fragrance free, but said nothing about aloe. So I was a bit worry. But I used a 30SPF and 50SPF for the rest of the week and didn't make any further damage to my already damage skin, so I'll probably by that same product again in the future. (Coppertone^®ultraGUARD^® QuickCover^® Lotion Spray SPF 30) Apparently it is hypoallergenic.

Outside the water I played with the sand, even tried to build a man size castle, which was a lot of hard work. I played frizbee and bocce ball. I even tried reading. But I would only stay out of the water for a little bit, as it's the only thing I know to do at the beach beside tanning which I'm not fan of.

After the beach, we all would come back to the house and sometime we would fish, but most of the time we just relaxed as the sun and water took a lot out of everyone. I would always have a snack after my shower, which with two showers and six people took some time to get around. Time flew by all week, relaxing for what seemed minutes ended up hours. We all watched Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy almost everyday as we attempted to out answer the contestant, we failed everytime. With the exception of my birthday and our last night, we stayed in and ate what ever delicious meal Jill had plan, which was usually around or after Jeopardy.

Most of our night were simple. After dinner, we watched TV, read our books or magazines of the week and pretty much relaxed until bed time, some of us played scrabble or Gin Rummy, we even stole a wireless connection from our neighbors to check our emails and surf the web. But one thing that was a lot different than what seemed to be a regular night. I along with Ryan took full advantage of being at the beach and we would walk the shore almost every night.

When my bed time would come around, at least an hour after everyone else. I'll get ready for bed, shower, snack, teeth, sportcenter, etc, I would snuggle up in my bed and read a chapter or two from my book, and then turn of the light to do it all over again the next day.



I literally didn't think of anything but what I was going to do next to enjoy myself. Now that is what I call relaxing. The vacation was almost perfect. I could have done without my skin getting burnt, but it happens.

I've always considered myself a person that should have grown up on the beach, and I think that even more now. I would love to move near a beach, but the truth is, without my friends and a job in my field of work, I probably would end up being a beach bum. As I grow older, my dream of one day retiring on a beach is actually fading more and more despite the fact that my love for the beach still grows. I couldn't go anywhere where I didn't have friends. That is one thing that I'm learning and realizing. This vacation would have not been the same if not for the people I went with. As beautiful, relaxing, and peaceful the place was, I don't think I would have had such a good time.

I can't wait until the next time!!!