Beach Diary Part One

There may not be a part two, but I am on vacation and don't want to think about titles should I decide or, more honestly, remember to continue this.

As I said, I am on vacation with the family.   Parentals, in-law, and niece in tow; sibling plus spouse on Tuesday, then sibling plus family friend Thursday.   Going to be a nice slow build up to total family and should give me plenty of time to socialize with each and introduce the newest incarnation of me.

Tonight I went to the beach; post sundown.  Daytime on the beach is nice, but nighttime is what I come here for.   I love the roar of an almost unseen ocean.   I love, LOVE the star that Miami lights cruelly deprive me of.   Yes, the pink night of Miami is quite cool in its own way, but give me stars anytime.

I remember quite fondly being in Colorado and, forgive me if I shared this story, thought I saw a U.F.O.

I lived in a hostel for the first 6 weeks or so I lived in Boulder back in 95.   It was Fourth of July weekend when I moved there and the streets were literally ablaze with couches (a Boulder tradition at the time).   The fires and chaos were interesting, but it was the stars that stole my attention that night and for weeks thereafter.

One night I was star gazing when I saw a star cruising along the sky at a steady pace.   "A UFO" I thought to myself and quickly scanned my surroundings for signs of a second pair of eyes to confirm what my stoned eyes so clearly saw.  

Did I mention Boulder had great pot and it was plentiful?  My first move upon moving to Boulder was introducing myself to the local homeless youth who occupied The Hill section of Boulder.   Most were Deadheads like myself, and were simply hanging around.   It was an amazing community I met there, beyond belief and I will write of them one day, although I can't guarantee the accuracy of my account: they had access to amazing pot; good enough to make one see UFOs quite possibly.

So this UFO taunted me for about 30 nights straight and there was never another soul around to see it.   It really started to bother me.  Was I insane?  Colorado was the UFO sighting capital, right?   It had to be a UFO!   And it was there EVERY NIGHT FOR 30 NIGHTS STRAIGHT!  A U-F-UCKING-O!

Finally, night 31 I have another person outside with me at the time the UFO comes for its nightly tease and I calmly ask the man, although I wanted to jump up and down and scream "UFO!", I asked him if he saw that light up in the sky.    He looked up and calmly asked me "what, that satellite?"

Seems being a mile high after living a lifetime in Miami exposes one to many wonders all at once.   It is a lot to take in at one time.   I simply responded "yeah, the satellite."

"What about it?"

"I've never seen one."

That was true, but I'd be damned before I told him I thought it was a UFO.   I hadn't been in Boulder long enough to expose that foolish naive eager to believe side of myself yet: too many predators and not enough allies yet.

In Colorado, I saw the Milky Way one night.  Tonight I saw bub kiss.   A few stars and a sliver of the moon.   My binoculars were useless unless I wanted to see darkness close up.    But there was a roar; a peaceful, lulling, pacifying, loving, soothing roar.   It is going to be a great week.