Wade Or Dive


About ten miles or so from where I lived was this huge beach with hard packed sand and ice-cold water. At the time of growing up it was across the street from a large amusement park. The outside perimeter of the park across from the beach had game arcades and some really good food. On a hot summer’s day whether you fancied the rides and games in the park or soaked up some sun at the beach that went on forever; it was iconic summer.

   Although the park was very amusing and the sidewalk venders made some tasty treats my focus in the memory with a lesson is about the beach and its water. Unlike where I live now where the beaches and the water is warm and shimmering shades of blue, where I grew up in the southern shores of Massachusetts the water rarely got beyond 70 degrees in the dead of summer. The beach I am addressing now the water during the sometimes-stifling summer would maybe get to 60 degrees but it really felt like ice water. For some reason, this beach’s water was the coldest around but was the most crowded and largest. There were no trees or anything that could cast off shade to protect you from searing sun except for the huge seawall but you had to wait until the sun was in a certain spot to take advantage of that.

  There were two approaches to getting acclimated to the freezing cold water. First approach, which more than not took, was to slowly ease your way in one section of your scotching body at a time. By the time you made it to your waist you were numb enough to emerge all the way in. The other method of madness was to just run and dive right in. Your body did go through a brief shock but if you stayed in your body adjusted somewhat.

  I compare the icy waters of the beach to anything in life we find daunting or uncomfortable. Sometimes we are given the time to acclimate then emerge completely and other times depending on the situation, you are expected to dive right in and deal with the after -shock. For me it was then and is now, a little bit at a time. Some people enjoy the briskness and some avoid chilly waters all together. There is no right or wrong way just an acknowledgement of different ways handling the same situation.

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