Time Surfing
Once, I walked down a deep tree-lined lane. I was going from one side of campus to the other. Moments before it had rained and everything was glimmering and vivid in the late afternoon light. Droplets shimmered on each blade of emerald grass and dripped from the leaves of the old trees with every shift of the air. I remember how the tree trunks looked: moist and almost hyper-real. I stopped at one point in the lane, walked over to the side and pressed my palm against one of those trunks, feeling the rough texture. Then I went on to class.
Today, the rain has stepped back and things are blue-skied and bright. But there is still that underlying Spring shower feel. And the greens remind me of that day at college. I’m drinking cool water and looking out the window — and time seems piled up behind me.
I think that I’d like to get out a bit more in front of it.
If you time it just right, you can bodysurf a wave far up the beach, bouncing and speeding along in the foam. Too far out and the swells just lift you up and set you back down. In too close and they curl and thump down right on top of you — kinda fun, but painful, too.
But if your distance is right…
You get a long fun ride.
I’ve been out of college for 15 years, now.
Sheesh.