Sunday at the beach

Virgina Beach, 49th St, Sunday morning about 8 am....another chance to walk the beach, barefoot on the sand, shirtless, feeling the sun beat down on my skin. I used to take it all for granted....maybe even acting a bit disdainful. Lived with the water so close and yet thinking I couldn't be bothered going down there to share the beach with the tourists and the sunbathers and the surfers. Lived near the ocean almost all my life and for a good part of my adulthood I had lost my joy of going to the beach. I thought only the mountains held sway over me.
But now as I've entered middle age I have found myself drawn again to the sand and the waves and the simple joy of an early morning walk along the beach.
As I start my walk, I smile, saying good morning to the folks who are out walking their dogs. Some of them are throwing a ball into the surf so their best friend can run out and fetch it, running back, shaking off the wet , front legs bouncing up and down as if to say "let's do that again!" I try to imagine that sense of sheer joy they seem to have spending time on the beach with their caretakers.
I continue my walk, close enough to the water that the occasional wave washes over my feet. It feels heavenly. I scan the ocean for dolphins, and I am not disappointed. I see the familiar fins break the water and disappear again and again. Fishing must be good, for not only are the dolphins hunting, but several Brown Pelicans are cruising and diving into the water grabbing fish. The gulls and terns are participating too.
I walk on with no particular thought about how far I want to go....it just feels good to walk on the sand and breathe in the salt air. As I wander down the beach, I see a sight that always makes me stop and gaze in wonder....the unmistakable silhouette of a large raptor- a bird of prey. I watch silently as this magnificent Osprey searches the ocean for a meal. Then in a flash it swoops and dives into the greenish-gray water and rises up with a silvery fish in its claws. As it starts to climb and head to shore, I find myself mesmerized by this bird. I get excited as I realize that I may be almost underneath it as the Osprey reaches shore. And sure enough, this incredible bird is flying so low overhead when it reaches shore that I can darn near see the scales on the fish it is carrying....I stand there dumbstruck at my luck. I've seen an Osprey several times before, but always at a pretty fair distance. This time I felt like I could almost touch it.
All in all it was a wonderful way to spend a Sunday morning. A nice walk by the ocean in the sunshine and a couple of bonuses- seeing the dolphins, the Brown Pelicans and the Osprey.
So maybe the beach isn't such a bad place to be after all.....