Coasting (or rather not)

Mid-afternoon today I had an overwhelming wish to be at the beach. Specifically, something out towards Bodega, like Dillon, or Wright's Beach. When I was in high school and life seemed way more complicated than it had any right to be, sometimes I'd ditch school and head out there with a couple of friends. We'd stop at one of those fruit stands on Highway 121 and buy cherry juice, which would be warm and way too sweet by the time we got to the ocean. Wander through the kite store and pick out salt water taffy. Sit on the beach in a bathing suit covered up by a sweatshirt because it was too windy and cold to come out. Stare into the ocean and smell the salt and the tide pools at low tide.

I don't miss high school. Not a lick. Life really was more complicated than it had any right to be.

But today I'd take the driftwood and the sand and the miles of ocean nothing to stare out at.