Creative Writing: A Simple Pleasure

Photo: F LoBuono, Cocoa Beach, Florida

It was a simple pleasure that I was going to make damned sure I was not going to miss. I had just finished working a grueling 36 hour period covering the return of the Space Shuttle Atlantis. During that stretch our news crew only slept about 2 or 3 hours. We labored through Florida's brutal heat and humidity, as well as the night time mosquito onslaught (I swear I saw a bunch carry off an infant into the swamp! LOL), to provide "live" coverage on what was the final mission of NASA's Space Shuttle Program. I was indeed ready for a break.

Our hotel was located in Cocoa Beach and was just one block from the Atlantic Ocean. I could clearly see the beach and water from my fourth floor balcony. I could hear it. I could smell it. But, ah, here's the rub; I was so damned busy I couldn't get to it!! However, on my last day, if I planned my schedule right, I might have an hour or so to get there.

On our last day there, as is my custom, I rose early. A coworker and I had to organize some of our equipment for shipment back to NY. As he is an early riser, too, we got that accomplished first thing. Afterwards, I went back to the room, packed, and got all of my personal things ready to go - except for one last thing - my bathing suit. I was heading for the beach!!!

It was just about 9 a.m. when I first set foot on the sand. Even though it was realtively early, the sun was already potent. I felt the intense heat radiate from the sand under my feet. But it wouldn't be long before all of that sweltering heat and cloying humidity would be a distant memory. The Atlantic beconed. To quote The Who, "I want to drown in cold water"!

In seconds, I was bounding with long strides and hops into the crashing waves. When the waves reached my waist, I took the plunge. AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! I swear that you could hear the hiss of steam created as my body was swallowed by the ocean. In one orgasmic moment, all of my ills, all of my worries were released into the healing waters. After the initial sting from the salt, even the hundreds of mosquito bites on my body and the blisters on my feet were healed. The stress of so many hours, in such a short period of time, was washed away with each subsequent wave. My body was rejuvenated, my soul revived. I was alive again.

Water in general, and the ocean in particular, have always been very special to me. My entire lineage is Sicilian. And Sicily is an island dependent on the sea. So, in a sense, it's already in my blood. My entire family spent summers at my Grandmother's house in Brooklyn so we could walk to the beach at Coney Island. My grandmother would actually wade into the surf there to scrape fresh muscles off the jetty to serve at that evening's dinner. Fresh fish, right from the fishing fleet at Sheepshead Bay, were a summer staple. Some of my fondest memories are of my time at the beach with my whole, extended family.

I could only spend 10 or 15 minutes in the water. I still had to back to go my room to shower and get to the airport for my return flight. But that was just enough. Just enough to remind me that the simple pleasures are the best pleasures.