It's Where We Live

Although my wife and I both grew up in Southern California and our formative years were spent in Orange and Los Angeles counties, much of our married life, however, we lived in the Mojave desert. But for  the last six years, Belmont Shore has been our home and on more than one occasion, my wife has turned to me and said, in a sort of quiet astonishment, "We live at the beach!"   

I think about this nearly every day, when I am washing dishes and hear the shouts and cheers of people playing volleyball on the beach or when Max, our dog, barks at gulls flying over the courtyard. I think of it when the air smells of brine or fog rolls over the business rooftops and spills into the busy intersections of Second Street. I think of it at 6 p.m. when the Queen Mary blows her stack and when I hear the faraway freight trains at the port giving their customary whistle when they cross a roadway.  

I think of it when I hear the powerful engines of speedboats and the whiney buzzing of jet skis. I think of it when I find sand on the windowsills, on the apartment floor, in the tub and even in bed. I think of it when I see all manner of people, male, female, young and old in various states of near nakedness walking on the beach, at the bay, on Second Street, in Subway buying sandwiches.

I think of it when I smell fifteen different suntan lotions when I bicycle on Bayshore on the Fourth of July and see harried moms and dads dragging coolers and wagons with shade umbrellas and towels and water toys while their children pepper them endlessly with animated questions.  

I think of it when I sit alone with my wife on a sandy berm somewhere near the end of the peninsula, while the sun is still warm and she holds my hand and we watch the pelicans dive into the sea and the plovers chase and get chased by the laughing, lapping waves. "We LIVE at the beach!"

Tim Bulone is an ardent observer of life on the swirling blue marble. He works at Davis Group Consulting and creates fine art and canvas prints which he likes to sell from time to time at http://www.MyFamilyArt.com He is an early morning pedestrian in Belmont Shore, where he resides with his wife and a variety of pets.