August 27th - Fort Lauderdale Beach

Living on the east coast of these United States has many benefits. Neighboring states are just hours away...each with their own, distinct personalities and attractions, almost like alien planets that one can reach out and touch, discover and explore. Admittedly, a ten hour drive does have it's challenges but the prize that awaited us on Florida's southern coast was well worth it.

We touched down in Fort Lauderdale right around midnight after passing about a kajillion evangelical billboards and paying an arm and a leg worth of toll on the turnpike. In the night, the ocean was a mysterious, dark whisper flanking our hotel. Eight hours later, it was a sunlit and sparkling utopia luring us sleepy heads to its shore.

I hadn't been to the beach in what seemed like ages. I lived in Long Beach, California back in 2000 and sadly took it for granted. I'd recently enjoyed a bonfire at a San Franciscan beach during an unusually warm night but that doesn't count. Going to the beach means taking a beach towel and an umbrella, wading out into the water, tasting the salt of the sea and then baking in the sun on glistening granules. We crossed the street from the hotel and removed our sandals before stepping into the sand. The morning air was not cool but instead warm like socks out of the dryer. My feet sunk into the sand with each step towards the water. I stopped to pick up a couple of seashells, perfectly formed and brilliantly white. Tentatively touching my toes (I love alliteration) to the foaming water, I was surprised out how warm it was. Like bathwater. I waded out a little deeper, drawing up the hem of my dress, mistaking little blue fish for seaweed as they rubbed against my leg.

Oh goodness, no wonder why people retire here! Wouldn't it be nice? To be old and overweight and not giving a damn as you bare your half-naked sagging and flatulent body to the sea and the southern summer sky. Your grandbabies are of no concern to you as they flit about the beach flinging sand at each other. Let their hard-headed parents worry. Oh yes, this your time at this lovely beach, thinking lovely thoughts until it's time to visit a buffet.

I turned to my boyfriend and asked when we would return to this paradise, to which he replied "as soon as humanly possible."