This particular post hit home for me @Paul B I appreciate the words and the time you took to write this out..Our Sunset party on the beach last night was a big success and there was a really nice sunset.
Early this morning I decided to go to the beach behind our house (down 170 steps) to watch the sunrise and ponder my existence.
This Lady met me just before I went down.
She had a little baby with her and was protecting her from mean old me.
I went down the stairs but had to avoid the sprinklers that got me all wet.
It was about 6:00 am and there was no one as far as you could see in both directions which is normal for that beach.
There is a bench at the bottom where I sat for about 15 minutes. Just me, some seagulls and the occasional sound of a fish jumping, probably out of joy.
It was calm so the tiny waves hitting the shore were barely perceptible.
No planes, no cars, no dogs barking, no nothing, just the way I like it as there are very few civilized places left where you can experience this quiet, especially in New York.
I try to go there almost every morning.
Now at my age I usually think about all the things I did, the things I never did, the things I wanted to do and the things I shouldn't have done.
All in all I had a pretty good life and have gone to almost all the places I wanted to go and did almost all the things I wanted to do.
As a little kid my big dream was to go to The Great Barrier Reef in Australia and SCUBA dive there with sharks. It turns out that was my first dive in 1970.
I wanted to fly in a helicopter, of course I ended up flying dozens or maybe a hundred times. Although I never wanted to crash, I did that twice but even that was a great experience, now that it's over and I didn't get killed.That probably would have been bad.
"Living" through life and death experiences totally changes your character and your outlook on life.
I don't recommend fighting in a war, but that, more than any other life experience, really changes you and I think, makes you a much better person
(providing you live of course) It will also remove any Snowflake tendencies you may have had and the rest of your life will seem easy.
If nothing dangerous ever happens to you, just normal daily living could be scary because every day is the scariest thing that ever happened.
It is almost the same with reefing. We start out as Noobs, babies. We don't know what we are doing and worry about seemingly silly things like putting our hands in the tank if we washed with soap, or adding a little dirt along with food.
Every little thing, which to seasoned people don't even think about.
Every time a Noob sees a tiny tentacle or pod they worry if it is a a harbinger of doom. Every new creature they buy is a learning experience and they are not sure what to expect. Eventually of course this stuff becomes second nature and I know I miss the challenge of learning this new stuff.
In the fifty years I have been reefing there isn't to many animals I have not kept and probably killed.
The thrill is still there but after 20 tangs, copperbands, angels etc. I know what to expect.
I do miss that challenge.
There is no point to this post, I just needed something to do before I go to my boat to ponder something else.
)
Nope. Randomly growing in my lawn.
