"on the Beach"

Before me are people and colors ... profusion of colors ... blankets and umbrellas and patterned garb ... Beyond those? the roar ....

To the right of me is my 40 year old Raleigh with its Brooks saddle that looks like an old cowboy's face ... the saddle that affronted parts of my body on the way here to the pulsing edge of the Atlantic, just a few hours ago. Hail to thee, O Bike .... I left your fancier Sister back home away from the sand and the rain. But you have carried me further than she has ... To you I owe much.

To my left is M, in whose presence I have led most of my life ...  49+ years-- as she has done with me. Curious that two people would presume to commit all their eggs to one basket .... Curious that some don't. Life is curious, in general. Neither of these histories (Bike or Wife) can be repeated ... there just isn't enough time. Do it or don't ... just get on with what you will.

Our spawn and their spawn couldn't join us, this weekend. One is doing business in East Asia .... another moving his family as they start a new midlife adventure. The third wasn't feeling great and is separated from her kids who are away in programs hither and yon.

Back in the house are our oldest friends and two of their grandspawn ... 7 and 25 years old. The 25 year old told me that patriarchal matrimony and its deleterious effects on women will soon be gone. She did a wondrously cogent riff on some writing I've been doing, as well. The 7 year old is resisting the beach, today, waiting for his Dad to pick him up. His Grandpa who was my graduate school professor more than 45 years ago hates the beach. Milt is a modern day Socrates ... just sit'em down in some square without sand and surf and share ideas with him ... he's Happy! or give'em an old movie ... in fairness, he brings his own. Can't redo my relationship of 45 years with Milt and his 50 year lady, Ruth, anymore than I can with Bike or Wife. (Some compulsive ass will wonder that I've given top-billing to my Raleigh over my Spouse and friends ... Bike over Wife. What to say? Hurry that compulsive to your neighborhood shrink ... tell'em to get a life ... or a bike? or friends or a wife, themselves.)

I'm alternating people-watching and reading a paper by Hans Loewald ... he died in the early 90's and wrote the paper in the 50's ... everything about me is old. The people are further testimony that life goes on. People are strutting their stuff and their kids. Most are good to their kids ... then there are the old people whose stuff has surrendered to gravity and the gustatorial sins of the flesh and other Older Adults who still look like they can proudly strut that stuff at 5-10 mph on the treadmill at the Gym.

I particularly gaze at the young and happy families ... betimes, multigenerational and multifamilial. They/we come with our chairs and foods, with our tents and canopies. Such attractive people bringing their kids to places where the dangers of everyday life are reduced to making certain that the kid doesn't go too far out into potential rip currents. The children wander and pay attention to the family umbrella and it's distinctive colors ... 'home base.' They wander and build and get dirty with impunity.

These kids are respectful to an old man's bike, too ... they give it distance. For as long as I call to remember, I walk my bike onto the beach ... dig a long furrow in which it stands .... lean it gently into the direction of the wind .... and compact the sand about a downward hanging pedal giving it a 'stand.' Cannot recall a child whose knocked it over. People get along on the beach.

We've been coming to this beach since 1979. When we first arrived, it was essentially all White and mostly Christian. Today Jackson's Rainbow Coalition have added dimensionality to this Virginia Beach. "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus!' It warms me that Hispanic and Asian and European rhythms and styles have arrived at this beach that I and my progeny think of as the place we go. Assateague Island is one of those sandbars that have vegetated over centuries. It's about 30 miles long with an entrance on the top in Maryland and one 20+ miles South of that in Virginia. There are no roads connecting the top entrance to the bottom and the overwhelming majority of people are found at these entrances. Want privacy? walk a quarter mile away from these entrances. It's a strenuous full-day walk from Virginia to the Maryland fence and back, again ... a good 14 hours. Politics keeps the wild ponies that occasion the North from the South .... different Park Services ... same Island.

The Last Quarter? Complicated to be a witness to cultural evolutions. Much has changed ... since I crawled out of the Sea of childhood ... like some reptilian ancestor did long ago. Here, where I've never heard an angry word .... I feel a sort of peace and pride in most of those changes that I've witnessed. It's been 50 years since Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act and I've been blessed to be called to witness these changes.

Psalms: How great are Your creations, O God .... Deep are Your thoughts!