Little pleasure in an open space
The first time I went to a beach was in third grade. It was in Subic. That was also the first time I got fascinated with the sun’s beautiful reflection on the sea. The sound of the waves at night was melody to my ears.
Since then, I had always wished I
would find myself on the beach again, wherever there might be.
Destiny had its own way of
granting my wish—although I didn’t like it entirely at first. In 2005, for some
reason, we moved from Antipolo City to Lingayen. I hated the idea of packing my
things from the place where I grew up, a place I had grown to love, and
unpacking them somewhere unfamiliar and foreign. I imagined that the place
would be quite far from civilization. It felt as if I were crossing the
boundary of the world I had known and moving on to the great abyss, the point
of no return.
Mom said that the house we would
move in was near the beach. Perhaps, she thought it would matter a lot to me.
On the contrary, it didn’t banish my anxiety. Because of my dislike of
transferring to another place, I forgot my wish of seeing the beach again.
I never realized that by near,
mom meant less than a kilometer. Until one afternoon after school, I went to
Lingayen Gulf. When the beach presented itself to me, it was like ice cream
served in front of a child throwing tantrums. At that moment, I realized it was
not that bad to live in a new place because new great things were about to
unfold before my eyes.
It’s a place I have already tied
my soul to. It has become my hang out when I have time to spare. Memorable moments
were created on that wide space. That’s where I started courting my first
girlfriend and that’s also where we marked our relationship official. That’s
where my closest high school friends and I used to hang out when we had no
classes. That’s where I cry myself out when I am down. And that’s where I go to
when I wake up early to greet the sunrise and the morning breeze.
The waves touching my feet are
like gentle hands calming me down when tension has risen to an unbearable
level. The setting sun reflected on and diffused by the water is my solace. The
cool wind touching my face partakes in my happiness. And the open space hugging
me around tells me that I am free from screaming unfinished tasks and energy-consuming pressure.
Priceless little pleasure.
 |
| Riding solo on the beach. |
Priceless little pleasure.
=) I love this post. That beach was a big part of my childhood. I'm glad you are also connecting with it the way I did. I have a lot of memories there, and it's good to know you are also creating yours.
ReplyDeleteYeah. Last summer, I would go there every night to break away from a pool of thoughts running in my head.
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