Meandering my way through dripping children, haphazardly flying fish rods, pecking pigeons, and waggling dogs on the Seal Beach Pier this afternoon I found a spot along the railing to ponder life and let the ponderings go, whilst tuning in to all that was around me.
When I moved back to NYC from Charleston, SC in 1990, one of my greatest soul joys was listening to the conversations of everyone around me. LIFE! Bigtime….passionate expletive-filled discussions on world happenings, unrestrained airings of relationship issues, hyped up bargaining banter spilling out from bodegas, enthusiastic hailings that could include a whole neighborhood, and every language imaginable.
A juiciness that hummed in the heart with the amazingness of this family of mankind of which we are all members. LA is different.
Today, on the Seal Beach Pier, eyes closed and listening, I was present and transported at the same time. Around me…and passing by me…
“What are you doing???”
“I’m being a pirate!”
“What do you mean?”�“That’s what happens to me whenever I see the ocean. It makes me think I’m a pirate.”
“You have to throw it back.”
“No!”
“You have to, it’s too small.”
“I hate you!”
A heated Russian exchange.
“If you don’t eat for the whole day then you can.”�
“Really?”
“Yeah, I saw it on You-Tube.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Yes you did.”
No, she’s lying.”
And the pigeons keep pecking and the waves keep rolling in.