There is a calm that overcomes you at the oceanfront. I’m not sure what it is, but the warmth of the air and the taste of salt does it for me every time. It is time to go but I stay. I stay to watch the procession of nature pass and bid good night to the warmth of the sun and welcome the light of the stars and the moon.
The hard chair against my back and the calm roll of the waves as the orange hue of the setting sun blankets the water is like a dream. Have you relaxed on an almost empty boardwalk in early spring? The winter air is not quite gone, the air is still crisp and the crowds have not yet returned. Only the true believers are here. A few merchants are welcoming the even braver shoppers. The candy store behind me is open and I can smell the sweet and delicious aroma of freshly made toffee. The mix of toffee and ocean salt transports me to the deck of an old-time tall ship with sails bellowing in a tropical breeze.
The chill in the air reminds me. I am in the cold north sitting on a long wooden ocean front boardwalk. The boardwalk is only about twenty feet above the sand and not far enough from the water’s edge. Occasionally I hear the crash of the ocean against the pylons. It’s a reassuring sound and reminds me that nothing lasts forever. This boardwalk, like the others, will fold into the depths of the ocean one day. It reminds me of my gift, my curse, everlasting life. Yes, I am immortal and unhappy. The first thousand years were magical, but the continued cycles of making and losing friends becomes more painful with the passing centuries.
So, whenever the blues get too deep I retreat to the oceanfront sunset. It truly is a magical time and place. It’s a place between life and death between light and dark, and I am transported just long enough to forget.
Enzro Greenidge 