I Get Ocean Withdrawal
I'm not a beach person per se, but I do love the look, the smell and the sound of the ocean.
I grew up just a few short hours from Myrtle Beach and Charleston, South Carolina. My family would go to the beach at least once during the summer for a day trip or a weekend and I was always in awe of the ocean.
In 1997 before my husband and I left for overseas, we went to Myrtle Beach. I wanted to have a last look at the Atlantic Ocean before I left home.
About a month later, we were living in Okinawa, Japan and the view from our living room balcony was the East China Sea.
View from living room - 3rd floor balcony
Down below from our housing area, we could walk to this spot.
From our apartment, I got tired of looking at the water. It made me sad to look at the East China Sea - that was not the Atlantic. It reminded me how far I was from home.
But when we would go sightseeing around the island, I was again in awe of the ocean.
Every time.
The farther north we went on the island, the more blue the water. In some places it's colors were a mixture of sapphire and turquoise. I thought I would never appreciate the Atlantic side of the United States again.
1998, Okinawa Japan
From Okinawa, we moved to Florida. In the four years that we lived there, we only went to the beach if we had visitors and someone wanted to see the ocean. The color of the water in northeast Florida couldn't compare to Okinawa. I resolved that I was done being impressed by the beach.
It wasn't until I went on a business trip to Pensacola, where I stayed on the beach, that my love for the massive body of water was rekindled. It was off season and I felt like I was the only one there.
A quiet beach is one of those places for me where God wraps his arms around me and renews my spirit.
Today was the day that I woke up with ocean withdrawal. I had the craving to enjoy air that I could breathe in and out without sneezing. The beach is not Papa Bear's favorite place so I suggested we go fly the kite, which he loves.
“The ocean is my happy place when there’s no beach people there.”— Kenya G. Johnson
Here's what that sounds looks and sounds like.
We will go to the beach this summer, but it's nothing like getting your ocean on.
