The Sea and Me: The Wonders I See, Hear, And Feel
Water is both an enemy and a friend to me

I have an innate fear of water.
Everyone in my family knows how to swim except me.
When I was young, my cousins visited from Jamaica, we went swimming and I almost drowned. That caused me to never learn to swim. Once the water gets to my chest I begin to hyperventilate.
My grandmother did not help that fear or perhaps she was the author of it. While washing my hair (I had lots and lots of hair back then), she would lock my head between her knees while I screamed blue murder.
Yet, I still love water.
It is part of nature after all, and I love nature in all its forms.
I also love to fish. This is a love that has stood the test of time. I love it today as much as I loved it as a child. And I grew up in a family that fished.
Back in Guyana, we fished by attaching a hook to a bamboo rod with a piece of rubber from an old pair of flip-flops or a cork from a bottle.
I loved it so much that I did it each time I got a chance. Besides keeping my head in a book, I love fishing with the same fervor.
My grandmother would chide me about always standing at the trench-mouth catching fish. The fact that I hate worms proved to be a challenge, but I found ways around that.
My Gee is a master fisherman.
He looooves to fish. So much so that he has always owned a boat. We have fished in New York, Massachusetts, and Houston, to name a few.
Last year he was out fishing with a buddy, he fell asleep, and asked the buddy to drive for a bit, the friend ran the boat aground and it sank. Everything was lost.
Then in May, we were passing by a marina and one caught our eye, so guess what, today there is another boat on the dock. I have not been out to sea with the new boat as it is New York and I have been in Texas since May. I stayed behind to hang out and get the kids ready for school. It was my choice and I have been having a blast with my children since the month of May.
Before the boat sank in 2021, the kids got a chance to drive it, and they were excited. We fished and enjoyed being out on the water.
I love the beauty of water; it is noisy yet serene, and a wonderful place to contemplate life. It calls to you with the age-old sirens' song.
My Gee hears that song too much I tell him because he loves the ocean way more than I do.
The ocean will forever remain a mystery and a keeper of secrets.
It brings me closer to the magnificence of the creator. I marvel at its beauty and respect its power.
I love being on it, seeing it, and hearing its waves crash on the shore.
I thank God for it as I dream of what lies beneath while keeping my head firmly fixed on the sky above.
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Pene Hodge is a mom, a nurse, a writer. She writes because she must. She loves people and is committed to sharing and gleaning knowledge for the betterment of all.