THE BEACH
hive-150329·@nelson-george·
0.000 HBDTHE BEACH
MY FIRST TIME AT THE BEACH I have had many opportunities to go to the beach in the past but I'm not much of an outdoor person. My friends had to literally lecture me for two hours before I finally agreed to go with them. To me, the beach was just salt, water and cold, I'm hydrophobic or I was until a month ago, I had heard of the tales people had with water, they weren't good ones, I couldn't possibly have fun with those things in play. I was wrong.  I watched everybody pray that night for a sunny day, who goes to the beach when its raining. I secretly prayed for rain, at least I could blame it on the weather. It didn't, the sun shined like it mocked me. The means of transportation was already taken care of. The trip actually started when we were all in the bus, there was music, there were jokes, everything your average road trip would have. I still wasn't buying the idea of the whole trip but there I was in the bus, no turning back. I had brought my headphones along just incase they didn't have my kind of music. They didn't disappoint with their taste, they being my friends. The road trip lasted longer than I expected. We reached around 2 in the afternoon and there it was, the water, the cold, the sand, the salt, all of that in one place. I immediately knew I was in trouble. I watched every last person run towards the water like their life's depended on it after we had finished setting up camp, splashing water at each other, laughing, it looked like they were having fun. I on the other hand wasn't ready to step a foot in that, I was very okay with my feet on solid ground. I heard my friends call out my name to come join them. nope, that wasn't happening. I think they saw I wasn't going to budge so they gave up. All except @chincoculbert, he was on a mission, get me into that water or at least die trying. He asked me if I had had my phone on me, I should've suspected. Immediately I said no, he and some other friends grabbed me, carried me all the way to the where everybody else and tossed me into the water. I think I saw my life flash before my eyes, I tried to get up but they were all around me blocking my exit. I managed to squeeze my way through one of them and ran as fast as my legs could carry me to shore. I wasn't getting in that water again. I lied. As I sat by myself thinking the water wasn't as bad as I had expected, plus everybody else was having fun and I was alone. I decided try a second time, this time on my own terms. I walked and stopped just where the water would touch my feet. I stood there for a while and walked forward a bit, this time the water reaching my knees. It wasn't bad, wasn't bad at all. Only then did I notice how beautiful and calm the beach was, the sun hitting the waves at just the right time. It was a work of art, God's art. For that brief moment, I was lost, I was at peace. @chincoculbert should be proud of himself, I was in the water. I didn't go past where I stood, lets not push our luck. We gathered later to play games amongst ourselves and later volleyball, that I could do. Then came dancing, I'm not much of a dancer so I left them and went back into the water hoping to find the peace it had given me, I did. One by one everybody came back, there was splashing, pictures were taken and for once, I was glad I didn't spend my Saturday locked up in the house reading a book. We left around 6 in the evening, I didn't want to but everything comes to an end doesn't it. We got in the bus and headed home. I'm grateful to my friends for the lecture and for the wake up call even though there are better ways than tossing me. I miss that experience and I really look forward to going to the beach again...    