The Beach

I love the beach. If you've been reading this blog for awhile you probably know that. I've talked about it several times. I did a Friday Nite Video that featured a beach. I've made fun of personal adds that ALWAYS list long walks on the beach as a favorite activity. Last week Elizabeth and I went to the beach in the evening with plans to put out a blanket and just relax there for awhile during the night. That outing lasted about ten minutes. We arrived there at dusk. Unrolled the blanket and sat down. We were surprised that there were several other people around us, apparently with the same idea we had. We breathed in the fresh, salty air. We admired the stars above. The sound of the waves crashing on the shore. Then the mosquitoes attacked. Not just one or two, a whole platoon. Biting our legs, arms, necks, our feet. Even biting through Elizabeth's jeans. We gathered up the blanket and high tailed it out of there. So much for our beach adventure. My love for the beach goes way back. My mom used to take me and my sister Kimberly there every summer. My aunt would rent a house every summer for a couple weeks in Fenwick Island, Delaware, I think is the beach where they would always stay. We would usually go for a day or two while they were there to spend the day with them. My cousin Carol, who Kim and I were always close with, would be there. We would have a great time, every time. But, I never went out in the water to far. Why? Because I saw the movie Jaws when I was a kid. Really! I saw that movie when it came out and to this day I can NEVER go very far out in the water. I want to be able to quickly make it to shore if I have to. Somewhere between waist and shoulder is plenty deep enough for me. Even when I'm out in that depth of water I'm constantly scanning the water ahead and around me. I can imagine a giant fin or a huge gaping mouth with razor sharp teeth with shreds of human flesh hanging from them behind every wave that's coming toward me. I'll swim around and I'll enjoy it but I'm always looking. I try to swim where there are several other people swimming in case there is a great white lurking. At least if there's other people around me I have a chance the shark might get one of them instead of me. It's even more comforting if there's a person way out in the water swimming around. You just know monster shark will go after that person because it will require less of a effort on its part. I saw Jaws when it was released way back in 1975. I was eight years old in 75 and for some reason my older brother Greg decided it would be a good idea to take me to see this movie so he and his newlywed wife Hope put me in the back seat of whatever car he had at that time and took his young, innocent brother (me) to see one of the most terrifying movies out at that time. We saw it at the old Sussex West Drive-In which used to be right on route 13 outside of Laurel. My brother Greg and his wife Hope had just gotten married that same year so what was the point to taking little old me to the Drive-In theater of all places if it wasn't just to scare me witless. They should have been making out in that car instead of worrying about what I was doing or thinking. Well, they succeeded in scaring the pants off of me. I remember several parts of the movie where I would duck down in the floor of the car, to scared to watch. Greg would laugh at me and tell me to get up and watch! I would with my eyes as big as saucers. Every time that music would start, my stomach would tighten. I knew someone was going to be eaten. Why would my brother do that to me you wonder? Last year I posted a story called Scary Movies where I talked about my two brothers loving to terrorize me. They took delight in seeing me scared senseless. My other brother Kirk made me watch Psycho one night with him and to this day I get nervous showering when I'm alone. Any strange noise makes me tense up and listen to see if I hear anything else. I can imagine Norman Bates slowly making his way to me in the shower, dressed in his mothers finest. My brothers took delight in it. Sensory overload for a eight year old boy. Now, as a 44 year old adult I can still see that giant shark swimming around the beach, looking for fresh victims. Doesn't matter if I'm at one of Delaware's beaches or one here in Florida, I'm on the lookout for Jaws! I remember when my kids were younger and Jaws was coming on TV and I told them ya both have to watch this movie about this giant fish. It's terrifying! They watched the first half a hour or so then got bored with it. They didn't find it scary. They didn't get nervous when that creepy, slow building music would start up. They were soon begging to go outside and play. Today they can go to the beach and swim and laugh and carry on without a thought to what might be lurking beneath the surface. But for me, being a eight year old boy back in 1975 who watched Jaws, I know what could be down below. Watching, waiting, hungry and ready to eat! Coming up out of the water to get that guy who's floating along on the raft or boogie board. Surging up from the bottom to grab that girl from below that's way to far out. That's why I'm going to stay close to the shore thank you!