3:54 P.M.
I can hear her thoughts as she is thinking, "Wow, these shoes smell like beach!"
My dog is obsessively sniffing my sandals that I wore to the beach today. She loves the beach, and I'm just waiting for her to bite me out of pure jealousy!
***
I ventured down to the beach as I saw the skies were clearing. I got there a little later than usual and left my stuff in my favorite spot.
I walked the beach and ended up running into Mr. Biggs. (B.J.) It turns out that my directions to the beach weren't so bad after all. He talks A LOT. He said, "The beach is great other than the sharp rocks on the shoreline. I woke up early and went to the gym. I tried to finish registering at the DMV, but the lines were way too long. I've been here at the beach for well over an hour now, and I was just getting ready to leave. I still have to study for the test that the restaurant is giving me. I can't start working the floor until I pass." He seems a bit nervous, and he's very serious about passing this test.
He stayed for a few minutes and we talked while walking the beach a bit. He seems to miss his friends and family up north but he's adjusting a little better as time goes on.
I was totally shocked when he told me about his last trip to the beach. He had gone down to Clearwater Beach last week even though the weather wasn't all that great, and he ended up staying there just to people watch. There were no lifeguards because the beach was closed from the storm that was making its way to the coast. The waves were large, but there were a few people out in the water trying to body surf.
While sitting on the shoreline, he watched one older man swim way out almost past the swim zone markers. He heard the man yelling for help and attempted to make it out there before the guy drowned. When he finally got out there and grabbed the guy under his arms, the man was so heavy that he was pulling both of them towards the ocean floor. After he struggled a bit B.J. managed to swim the guy to safety. The man thanked him and offered to buy him some drinks. He introduced B.J. to his wife as a hero and insisted on taking him out to thank him for his good deed.
B.J. being a guy who loves to talk would have normally accepted such a nice gesture, but had to decline because he couldn't understand a word that the old man was saying. The old man had a thick Scottish accent and spoke very broken English.
Wow, that's so crazy.
It's not every day you have a chance to save someone's life. What a nice guy!
B.J.'s incident leads me to believe that tourist season is starting to begin.
I've also noticed a lot more foreigners in the restaurant these past few weeks....
****
B.J. and I talked more about the local beaches. There is so much he hasn't seen. As we walked towards the end of the beach, he seemed to stress a bit more about the rocks and sand spurs. I told him that if he spends enough time on the beach he will eventually become acclimated, and he will develop what I like to call "beach feet".
After you spend a lot of time on the beach with the shells and the sand your feet develop calluses and become more resistant to the extreme heat and sharp shells. It may have been a good idea but B.J. has no interest in developing "beach feet." He says that he does all he can to keep his feet moisturized because he hates the way his feet look.
DID HE JUST SAY MOISTURIZE!
Sure, I'm surprised. So my first impression from looking at this guy is that he takes good care of himself and he has good hygiene.
Well as the walk ended we parted ways and I made my way up to the snack bar for lunch.
It was hot as hell out there today.
I hope Sunday is another beach day. I'd like to get some more sun before I get back to my busy school schedule.
These past few weeks at work have been great. I've met so many great new people.
I can't wait to get back to school to meet more new people!
