Sunday, December 7, 2008

Sitting, Watching, Waiting


We go to the beach almost every day. When you're at the beach, you are always doing one of the following: sitting, watching & waiting. I'll give you some examples from this week:


Tuesday: With our whole family, we head down to one of our most visited beaches - Wailea. Aaah, Wailea, where the sand is raked every morning, where the gentle waves hit the shore with a measured evenness and where the smell of money wafts in the air like that of freshly baked bread. We like to hang out there and pretend we're one of the privileged lot. And as we sit on the warm, even sand, we watch the kids play in the run-up and wait for the time when we spell each other off to take a boogie board and go for some exercise by paddling across the bay.


Thursday: Neil and I head down to the Cove to surf. We rented a second board from the Surf Shack - an 11' hard top. Given that the waves were small and it was high tide, we'd have better luck catching some waves with a bigger board. So, we paddle out, turn the boards around, straddle them and sit. Sit on the board, watch the ocean and wait for a wave. Sitting up gives a little break from lying down as you bob in the swells and watch. Watching the horizon in the early morning while the ocean is still, the air is fresh and the West Maui mountains glow as the rising sun hits them almost horizontally. And waiting. Waiting for that perfect wave. That wave that is big enough to pick you up; that breaks at just the right time; that makes that perfect rushing sound as you summon your balance to stand; that carries you as far as you let it; and then jump (or fall) off as it travels on beneath you, leaving you behind on its trek onward to shore.


Sunday: We made this trip to the beach a little different. Normally we go in the morning, when the ocean is calmer and it isn't too hot. But today, we waited till later in the day and packed up boogie boards, changes of clothes, dinner, hibachi and lawn chairs and headed to Kama'ole Beach 3. Weekends are quite busy at the beach - much like Vancouver, people make it a point to enjoy the beach, spending the whole day there with food, family and friends. So after some swimming, we set up our camp on a grassy little hill, ate some BBQ'd dogs and played catch with the kids. And then, we sat on our lawn chairs, and watched the pinks and oranges turn slowly to blues and blacks, and waited - well actually, we waited for nothing. We just sat, and watched.

So, as we wrap up this week, I realize that I shouldn't waste time waiting. Unless of course, it's for a wave.