Presidential Beach

Day 1 / #the100dayproject

Running like a kid, sand between my toes

it’s freezing.

It’s the middle of winter and we’re celebrating his birthday

overlooking the Atlantic ocean

They say Joe comes here in the summer

and with every mansion we pass

on our morning, afternoon, and sunset walks

I wonder whether those are the big windows

where he looks out over the ocean

in a fluffy bathrobe

with a steamy cup of Joe (see what I did there?)

How does the president sleep?

I asked my love, yesterday

Being famous is my idea of hell, I added

thinking that one single blog post

can already keep me up at night.

But that weekend, I slept

and when I opened the door in the mornings

the freezing wind hitting me in the face like a cold splash of water

I felt happy.

“I want to wake up and walk on the beach”

he had said when I asked him

how he wanted to turn 36.

The beach reminded us of home.

It’s depth, the sand, the shells

the sun didn’t set over the water

but it still turned the sky into a fireball at night

after coloring all the clouds in a lilac hue.

On the Sunday, we walked for so long our muscles cramped

the faint winter sun leaving us rosy-cheeked

and in the last hour of the weekend

we dipped our toes in the water – screeching

dreaming about living on the beach

[not long before wondering when rising sea levels would cover these big American mansions under water]

realism and anxiety are for another day

maybe when we’re back in the city

it’s concrete corset a perfect breeding ground

for anxious thoughts

not now.

right now, I’m too happily skipping in the sand

celebrating another year around the sun

with the sun setting presidentially

over a gorgeous East coast beach.