So the other night in the middle of a talk a good friend had a grand idea. 5 min. later we stood on the beach in the dark (except for 1 ferry about to leave dock), with a small collection of pebbles. I went first. "you are never supposed to question God, EVER." I hucked the rock as hard as I could (it landed a pitiful distance but felt good). We took turns. Chucking some of the lies we have believed most of our lives into the sea. I felt amazing....and hurt like hell...and almost took out my shoulder. Turns out even when you say them out loud, and they sure enough sound like complete bollucks...they still hurt to pull up.
So we threw them really hard.
We had a couple over lapping. And a couple dusy's. And after half an hour we were done.
On the walk back up the beach I thought I saw a plastic bag billowing in the wind. I stop dead 4ft away when i realized it was a baby harbor seal. I went to Seattle Aquarium a couple weeks ago. And some how when they tell you 'these live right out here'...you really don't believe that means your actually going to see one. Let alone up close and personal. We got pretty close trying to see if the little guy was hurt. His reaction (all 2 feet, and round inches of him) was to look at us, yawn, stretch and promptly go back to sleep. We called about him only to be told by 911 that it was totally normal. The moms plop the little guys up on the beach so they can do some night fishing. Leave him be and he'll be just fine. So we did.
More trips to the beach should be like that one.
I really like this story, JoDee. It seems like a very therapeutic thing to do. Writing is great to vent--I do it all the time--but sometimes more physical action is needed. I especially liked the part about the seal. I could imagine its innocent face and I feared for a moment that it might have been hurt.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the writing. It can be tedious, but as a writer I often feel a need to be heard or make others heard and it results in aggravation and pressure but also something therapeutic for me and hopefully others. Throwing the rocks can hurt, but they needed to be thrown.
XOXO,
Jessica Hamlin