A NEW YEAR

Yesterday, New Year's Day, we went to the beach.  It was still warm but the temperature was due to drop before evening and the breeze had picked up a bit from the day before.  Closer to town a bunch of foolhardies were scheduled to start the new year off with a polar bear plunge into the Gulf.  Although we live in Florida, the water on the Panhandle gets mighty cold in January.  The clear blue skies of the day before were making way for an overcast of clouds which were dimpled in darkness.  The temperature had begun to drop while we were there and the breeze was picking up.  The water was clear and the waves were gentle and the beauty of that moment was refreshing and calming.

Down just a little bit from us were two couples, the men were probably in their late twenties.  Tourists, for sure.  One of them was holding forth and speaking a language I did not recognize but I suspected it was Scandanavian in origin.  The other man was listening but not saying a thing.  The women were occupied taking photos of each other, laughing.  After a while, one of the couples stood up and stared at the water.  They shucked off their clothes to their underwear and ran into the Bay, diving headlong into the water.  They same out immediately, laughing as if they had proven something on this first day of the year.  After a minute, they plunged into the water again, embracing before they came back to shore to put their clothes on.  I got the feeling that nothing could have bothered them that day; they were invincible against the cold and the damp and anything else the world might hold before them.  Still smiling and laughing, all four soon left.

About five minutes later there was an older couple, probably in their sixties.  They stood at the edge of the water locked in a long silent embrace.  They held that pose for a long time and eventually walked away along the shore, holding hands.

I think 2024 is starting off on a magnificent note.