BY THE SEA

It’s hard to take a bad photo at the beach because everywhere you look, there is beauty.  The soothing rhythm of the waves returns to memory even years later when you hold this kind of photographic moment in your hands.  That is precisely how I feel about this photo. One dazzling spring morning I was walking along the edge of the ocean in Duck, North Carolina.  Everyone is different at the beach. Some people enjoy the baking sun and never leave the comfort of their squat but brightly colored chairs.  Others enjoy bobbing in the salt water like overfed seals until their skin is comparable.  I prefer strolling along the beach at the exact juncture where sneaky waves tickle my feet and there is just enough moisture for my heels to sink almost imperceptibly into the damp sand. The day of this photo, I had ventured too far, again.  This happens almost every time I take off in a new direction by the shore.  I am extremely persuasive when I convince myself that the waves have delivered a perfect shell or tiny piece of sea glass…and it’s likely just ahead.  It compels me forward. I don’t want to miss anything.  As my pockets became heavier and soggier with treasures from the deep, I came upon this rusty old pier.  Its menacing magnificence extends from a field research facility, owned by the US Army Corps of Engineers.  I stood beneath it for a long time.  There was something calming about the repetitive pattern of the pylons so deeply embedded in the sand. If I take a deep breath I can still hear the sound of the crashing sea.