Some person who was very wise once said, “If you’re lucky enough to live by the water, you’re lucky enough.” I’m actually pretty sure I read that somewhere online or on a wooden block in the decorations section, of Barnes and Noble, but it’s true. Living near the water is lucky, no matter where you are.
My aunt used to tell me that if you live on an island you should know how to swim and how to sail a boat, and so naturally I learned. Little me was sitting in a boat trying to float somewhere into the Long Island sound, from age eight onward. So it was embedded in my brain, that need to be close to the water. I think a part of the reason I came to a school that was on a lake was that it was on a lake. It’s such a simple perk, but such a big one at the same time. I would never be able to live somewhere, where flat ground goes on and on without an end in sight. I would get worried honestly and wonder where the beach is.
Every time I came home from college last year, the first thing I would do was drive down to the water, even if it was just the bay and even if I was by myself. Yeah, I liked the lake at school, but I missed salt water. The salt water has no limits. I know somewhere far out the lake will end. I can see the other side of the lake, but not when you go to the ocean. The salt water always leads somewhere, the bay to the sound, the sound to the ocean, and when it comes to the ocean I can’t see the end.
I never thought much of this view (which you can see in the header picture of this article) until I got away from it. I missed being 20 miles away from New York City and seeing the skyline on a clear day. At school, I’m still near the water but I know that when I come home, I can go to the ocean ... and nothing beats the ocean. The ocean needs no help. A lake might have to have a boat and a water slide and a dock, but the ocean doesn’t get any of that. It is simple and plain and full. So this will be the first place I always go.
Anyone who has grown up near the water will have a hard time getting away from it because they already have been exposed to its greatness. Everyone likes a view, and every great view includes the image of the water. Going there, whether you’re a five-minute drive away or an hour or a walk down to the town dock will always be a sort of destination. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to live in an environment where I’m not near the water, where I can’t stick my toes in the sand in the middle of January and cozy up on a beach during late March. That just wouldn’t be the place for me. If I couldn’t have the view of the water or even the smell of it within ten minutes from my house I would probably just have to move.
