Swim Therapy

this house is for sale, originally uploaded by camille94019.

On the way to Beach Flats

Nori took me swimming this afternoon. I love the experience of the ocean swim.

1) Get on bike. Bike down Market St. The wind through the helmet tells me that it loves me. It whispers in my ears.

2) Cross Ocean. The street. But still, its an asphalt promise of things to come.

3) Ditch Water St for the San Lorenzo River Trail.



The SLRT is a force in itself. The smooth pavement belies its gritty underside. Winging through, I pass squats, drifters and people with groceries. The river is fat and lazy, and nearly not there. A classic california wadi, with only enough damp to keep up from calling it a creek. Near the beach it widens into a sluggish pond.



Along the boardwalk, I dodge tourists. Large women towing equally large coolers, stollers, small children, the elderly. Huge clans of stocky people who still have the dust of suburbia clinging to their SUVs.




I arrive at Cowell's, stow the bike on the fence. I san the sand for signs of Nori. She was in her usual spot.



I waved at her. It took forever to walk across the sand. The day was perfect. The wind was warm, but not hot. The sun was bright, but not oppressive. I could have stopped there and not moved.

We pulled off our street clothes, revealing our skins of polyester. We put on our rubber accoutrements. We walked in the brown water with lots of screams and giggles. We let go of the sandy bottom, and let the water take us. We plowed on, I stopped to catch my breath. She gave me a lesson on "putting the hands in the water" I am sure there is a swimmy technical term, but it worked, and I started swimming faster. Soon the screams from the Boardwalk faded into the distance. We were soon surrounded by boats, and sky and clouds.