Ocean City, NJ
Hi there, all.
Yesterday, we went to Ocean City, NJ, for an afternoon at the beach and a visit to the boardwalk. Being as I am going to AFO next week, we didn't do any shopping on the boards, but, we did eat this fandabulous pizza and enjoy the ocean.
For those of you who don't know, I have a love/hate relationship with the ocean. Well, the ocean is great! The sun and all.
I get a little spiritual when I talk about the ocean. The ocean is like the womb of the earth -- it is so alive and beautiful and powerful. Like all things feminine, it is full of this life, as well as danger. It embodies so much of these qualities for me. Yesterday, it was particularly breathtaking, because of the tropical storm that had passed offshore -- leaving turbulent waters and big, irratic waves in it's path.
Having said how much I love the ocean, I will now relate what I love about the ocean, but, don't really want to experience first-hand. Sharks.
OK. It's an irrational fear (in some ways), but, I have been afraid of sharks since I was a wee lass, and will probably always be afraid of them (and, I grew up in the midwest, where the largest body of water was Lake Michigan -- no sharks there).
Haha -- you laugh -- I have more chance of being attacked by a wild boar than I do of being attacked by a shark . I am sure that is true in raw statistics. If you take into account the entire world population, and all. But, most people don't live on the coast. Many of the people who live inland and are included in these statistics don't ever swim in water with sharks in it, so IMO, they shouldn't even be included in the statistical calculations (help me out, Mandy!).
Anyway, while I am totally drawn out into the great waves crashing against me, wanting to be completely immersed in this salinated bliss, I am also scared witless at the thought that sharks could be swimming just a little farther out -- I can't see them, but they are there. Oh yes, great swimming hoards of the giant buggers, just waiting to take a bite out of my poor thigh, waist or arms. Arrgghh! They scare the whiz out of me!
Because, you know, the ocean is a watery jungle -- where the indigenous life-forms have the physical, kinetic and predatory advantage over me. They see better, swim faster--bodies perfectly designed for killing in this environment. Sleekly-lined, fleshy bullets, boasting a dense musculature, with gaping jaws lined with razor teeth. Jaws capable of up to 900lbs of applied pressure to slice through the largest bones in my body with one snap. Amazing!
In the water, I may be able to initiate some graceful movements, but, I am slower than slow. I don't stand a chance if one should decide to see if I am an appropriate food source. Disadvantage - Darcy.
Plus, with all those waves forced from miles out, carrying in what lay farther out, I was sure a 500 lb. gray mass would just come barreling in on one of those waves and knock me off of my feet -- then drag me out to Davy Jone's locker with a gratuitous, toothy grin.
*gulp* So, admittedly, its a phobia. I got it. But, my heart is pounding in my ears just writing about it.
Still, I had to let the waves pound into me -- I was pulled out deeper -- not by the undertow of the water, but by my waves of curiosity an inexplicable desire to meld into that water -- that power. When the water would rise to my chest, I would remind myself of all the gruesome possibilities and turn back, only to be drawn out again.
Such is life.
Yesterday, we went to Ocean City, NJ, for an afternoon at the beach and a visit to the boardwalk. Being as I am going to AFO next week, we didn't do any shopping on the boards, but, we did eat this fandabulous pizza and enjoy the ocean.
For those of you who don't know, I have a love/hate relationship with the ocean. Well, the ocean is great! The sun and all.
I get a little spiritual when I talk about the ocean. The ocean is like the womb of the earth -- it is so alive and beautiful and powerful. Like all things feminine, it is full of this life, as well as danger. It embodies so much of these qualities for me. Yesterday, it was particularly breathtaking, because of the tropical storm that had passed offshore -- leaving turbulent waters and big, irratic waves in it's path.
Having said how much I love the ocean, I will now relate what I love about the ocean, but, don't really want to experience first-hand. Sharks.
OK. It's an irrational fear (in some ways), but, I have been afraid of sharks since I was a wee lass, and will probably always be afraid of them (and, I grew up in the midwest, where the largest body of water was Lake Michigan -- no sharks there).
Haha -- you laugh -- I have more chance of being attacked by a wild boar than I do of being attacked by a shark . I am sure that is true in raw statistics. If you take into account the entire world population, and all. But, most people don't live on the coast. Many of the people who live inland and are included in these statistics don't ever swim in water with sharks in it, so IMO, they shouldn't even be included in the statistical calculations (help me out, Mandy!).
Anyway, while I am totally drawn out into the great waves crashing against me, wanting to be completely immersed in this salinated bliss, I am also scared witless at the thought that sharks could be swimming just a little farther out -- I can't see them, but they are there. Oh yes, great swimming hoards of the giant buggers, just waiting to take a bite out of my poor thigh, waist or arms. Arrgghh! They scare the whiz out of me!
Because, you know, the ocean is a watery jungle -- where the indigenous life-forms have the physical, kinetic and predatory advantage over me. They see better, swim faster--bodies perfectly designed for killing in this environment. Sleekly-lined, fleshy bullets, boasting a dense musculature, with gaping jaws lined with razor teeth. Jaws capable of up to 900lbs of applied pressure to slice through the largest bones in my body with one snap. Amazing!
In the water, I may be able to initiate some graceful movements, but, I am slower than slow. I don't stand a chance if one should decide to see if I am an appropriate food source. Disadvantage - Darcy.
Plus, with all those waves forced from miles out, carrying in what lay farther out, I was sure a 500 lb. gray mass would just come barreling in on one of those waves and knock me off of my feet -- then drag me out to Davy Jone's locker with a gratuitous, toothy grin.
*gulp* So, admittedly, its a phobia. I got it. But, my heart is pounding in my ears just writing about it.
Still, I had to let the waves pound into me -- I was pulled out deeper -- not by the undertow of the water, but by my waves of curiosity an inexplicable desire to meld into that water -- that power. When the water would rise to my chest, I would remind myself of all the gruesome possibilities and turn back, only to be drawn out again.
Such is life.