The ocean

It had been a few years since I had been at the edge of the ocean looking out at it. The Long Island Sound I had seen plenty, and I guess Natalie and I had momentarily graced the edge of the Pacific last summer, but this is different.

It's astounding how quickly the cliches came rushing in. The ocean is the closest we can come to contemplating eternity and therefore mortality, apparently limitless but in fact not, just so immense that we know we can't grasp it without some sort of help. So we trust that it's not, though unaided we have to treat it as if it were endless.

It's like you can't not think it.