Mother, mother ocean....

Does it get any better?//Courtesy: me

It's good to be back at the beach. Really, I miss it. Probably more than anything about where I grew up, I miss being close to the beach. Granted, we lived about 40 minutes away in Longwood, Florida, but it was a straight shot up I-4, exit at Hwy 44 and make a right...keep going until you hit the beach, New Smyrna Beach.

Water...has always been a part of my life. Heck, I was born in a beach town; Long Beach, New York. My mother has told me stories of how much I enjoyed sloshing along the beaches of Long Island. Loved it. Took to it immediately.

It's never left my life. We lived in Florida throughout my childhood and I was always near the water. Swimming pool, Intercoastal Waterway, the Beach...it didn't matter, I always wanted a part of it.

During my high school years, we always were at New Smyrna Beach. Always. Most of the summer, skip days from school...it didn't matter. The last couple of years in high school, we were there on Memorial and Labor Day weekends too. Stayed at the Islander for the weekend and had a blast.

Scuba Phil/Courtesy: bob mcnamara

The fascination continued. I was always a strong swimmer. Good at it and built for it. Never did it competitively, mostly because I wasn't interested in the hours. I went away to school...it still continued. On a lark, I got my Lifeguard certification for a Phys. Ed. credit at Georgia Southern.

That certification got me one of my favorite, non-TV jobs of all time. Lifeguard at Wet and Wild in Orlando. Loved it. Had a blast. Was in the water every day for 7 hours. Lost 25lbs and ate and drank like a fish. Loved it.

Once I graduated, I didn't get to play as much in the water. I would swim from time to time, when I could find a pool that I didn't have to pay for to be in. But I always came back.

In Jacksonville, I got to live on the beach. Briefly. About a year. But I lived there. I could walk out the door whenever I wanted and run or walk or jump in for a swim. All I had to do...was walk across the street. I miss that.

In 2003 I did something that I had always wanted to try. I got my scuba diving certification. Sure, swimming on top of the water was great, but it paled in comparison to swimming underneath it. My gosh. The quiet. The only noise, the noise of your regulator while you breathe. Everything moves slower. Not slow motion, no...just slower. The fish. They are aware of you, some care...some don't.

Sunset at Indian Rocks Beach/Courtesy: me

In the next two years, I completed over 50 dives. Dove in Panama City. Dove in the Keys. Two trips to Nassau in the Bahamas. Loved it. Heck, I even did the Shark Pool dive in Nassau, watched while the sharks were fed. 25 Reef and nurse sharks, swimming around me, heading towards the food. It was awesome.

I don't get to go to the beach much anymore. I'm stuck living in the Eastern part of the Midwest now. I miss it. We've made a couple of trips to the beach and in fact, I'm sitting a mere 500 feet away from it right now. It's really hard to describe the feeling when I waded out into the Gulf this afternoon. I felt happy. It just kind of felt right. It felt like I was in the right place...where I should be.

I'll enjoy this week in Indian Rocks Beach with the knowledge that at some point, I'll be back. Maybe not here, but somewhere. TLB and I have already talked about this...at length. We both can think of nothing better than spending a chunk of our lives...watching the sun rise...or sun set over the water.

I cannot think of a more appropriate song than this. Enjoy some Jimmy Buffett.