Some Beach, Somewhere

"Don't waste yourself in rejection, nor bark against the bad, but chant the beauty of the good."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
I can directly relate with this profound essayist when I reminisce about the time I traveled to Emerald Isle, North Carlina on spring break. Personally, I love the beach. My mom tends to want to explore the mountains. I for one, could not wait to get the island. I was picturing a marvelous beach and listening to crooning waves crash against the shore. As soon as I arrived at the beach house, I greeted the friends we were meeting there, then made a quick dash for the back door. There was a sliding glass door leading to a deck with stairs that went right onto the beach. I called into the house, "I"ll be right back!" I slipped off my flip flops and scurried down the stairs. I didn't even care that the sand was piping hot against the balls of my feet. It was warm sand that I rarely got to experience! I wanted to "chant the beauty of good" more than ever. When I saw the foamy waves, I couldn't resist; I started making my way toward the edge of the water.
My toes had the powdery white sand slinking in and out between them. I inched toward the water as I heard screeching seagulls all around. There was a slight breeze, and it wasn't too hot nor too cold. Before I stepped in the water, I glanced up and down the beach, almost as if I was checking to see that nobody was watching me commit a forbidden sin. One step. Two more steps. A couple of tiptoe steps. Brrr! Retreat! The water felt like an artic glacier in liquid form. My small toes scurried out fast and set out to defrost in the warm sand. While waiting for the feeling to come back to my feet, I noticed a couple of seashells and crouched down to pick them up. There was one, amidst all the broken shells, that was a perfect creme color without any cracks or blemishes. Once I scooped up the glossy souvenier, I headed back up to the house. This is where I discovered another set of stairs that lead up to a small deck at the top of the house.
Simplicity is what I found atop that roof. "Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify."- Henry David Thoreau. A single solitary chair withing a rickety bannister was up there. I proceeded to sit there in that chair and just breathe in the salty air. Soon thereafter, I noticed the sun was going down. I've never seen anything more beautiful than a soft orange sun, setting in a baby pink sky, proceeding to descend over a vast water that was never ending. We arrived at the house at about 4:00pm, and my mom came outside to get me at about 8:30pm. She was freaking out because she didn't know where I was. I let out a yell from the roof and she walked up the stairs. My mother forced me to come down from the roof for dinner, but I continued to linger as I walked down the steps; I just couldn't get enough of the star-filled sky. It's not every day that I experience their twinkles quite so bright, for I live in the city and it tends to masquerade all thought of even looking into the sky for beauty. Maybe that's why I agree with Thoreau's philosophy of a life frittered away by detail and simplifying things. I don't think I'll ever get more simplistic than sitting atop a house watching the sunset. It's a good thing I still have the pearly seashell to help remember to step back and simplify.
Emerson and Thoreau would have definitely appreciated the safe haven of a solitary beach. I think they would have sat in rocking chairs next to me on the roof. Just like these two fine gentleman, I was able to get out of reality for a couple of moments and breathe in clean air and thoughts. Emerson and Thoreau were a tag team that tried so desperately to change the world's perspective the way they changed their own. They turned bad situations, like a death in the family, into an appreciation of the simpler things in life. I realized that taking a step back and changing my perspective, really helped me to appreciate the world around me in the way that Emerson and Thoreau did.