Living 23 years without having seen the ocean is a tragedy. I will never allow anyone I care about to go as long as I did without witnessing
one of the world’s oceans. For years, it has been on my life’s to-do
list, but always been pushed aside by one thing or another. Not anymore.
The ride from the Cancun airport to our hotel was hot and sticky like most things in Cancun. We rode in a shuttle-type van for a good 20
minutes and the whole time I put my hands to my head like blinders because
-- for a reason I can’t explain -- I was afraid to lay eyes on the ocean.
Maybe it wouldn’t be all I dreamed; maybe I didn’t want my first ocean
sighting to be in a seedy van with a cooler of Corona sitting on the front
seat. I wanted it to be perfect -- and it was. I managed to not look out the window for the whole drive and luckily when we came up to the
hotel, it completely blocked my view. It wasn’t until we were escorted to
our room that I saw it.
In a way, I feel sorry for people who grow up by the ocean because it can be so easy to take it for granted if you never knew life without it.
I grew up in Colorado, where mountains shape the land, one mile above the ocean. I am not a nature girl by any stretch and never really enjoyed
the mountains as much as a Colorado native “should.” I am usually more
fascinated with sky scrapers and architecture than any natural wonder.
But the ocean is remarkable, absolutely awe-inspiring. Its mere
presence is astonishing.
I am sad that I will never get another first ocean
experience and the first moment I stepped onto our balcony facing the immaculate white sand beaches, I was already sad that my time with the
ocean would go away. I could stare at it for hours and it will never stop
putting on a show for me. When I first stepped outside and my feet met
the water, I decided that the ocean smelled like crabs and I was a little put off by it, but by the time we left Cancun, it smelled calm and I
cherished it.
We went snorkeling, and my whole view of the world changed. Not only is the surface of the ocean a giant place, but the creatures underneath it
make our world twice as big and vastly more fascinating than ever before. I lived my whole life up to this point not knowing what it was like
to see the ocean or to look out and see nothing but turquoise waters and blue sky and I just can’t believe that something this perfect exists.
It’s amazing the way it repairs the sand every time the waves come crashing in. I didn’t know it would be so loud or that somehow the noise
that sounds almost angry can actually be so soothing. Closing my eyes and
listening to the waves, I have never been so happy to be proven so wrong.
I once said and lived by the motto that nothing lasts forever
-- but
now I know I was dreadfully wrong. The ocean, the waves rolling on the sand, 24 hours a day, whenever you need it,
lasts forever and ever. It’s a
free gift to all of us that challenges even the best that money can buy.
