Day at the beach

I get up in the morning ..splash water on my face ..go outside .. sit on the deck and drink coffee while reading the newspaper. There are more reports that dinosaurs aren’t extinct ..they’re flying over my head ..and I think of ‘Leghorn Foghorn’ ..except I know he can’t fly. There's absolutely zero breeze ..I figure the windstorm must have blown over. I grab a towel ..put the top down and drive to Butterfly beach. Now I’m sitting in a powerful onshore wind ..watching the surf getting chopped to smithereens. I take a deep breath and jump in ..to the amazement of everyone sitting on the beach. Arctic currents have replaced the warm water that was here yesterday ..feels like an iceberg just melted ..the pain knocks the wind out of me ..my brain freezes up and goes numb. I ride a wind-wave back to shore ..cover myself in towels that people have donated ..and shake uncontrollably ..trying to imagine what they think of me. I hop in the car, figuring a few minutes at the sangha might do me some good ..but the roads are closed for construction ..and people are forced to use surface streets. So, I decide to take an alternate road winding into the mountains ..and get lost. I manage to find some relief by peeing in the woods ..but end up rattling around for about an hour and a half until I find a road I recognize. Now I’m sitting in the sangha surrounded by people meditating ..trying to keep my hands from shaking ..my lungs from breathing too heavily ..and still trying to imagine what people think of me.