Everything Belongs to the Ocean

My feet dig into the wet sand just as a wave washes them clean, but I take another step and see something move. I look down as a little, white crab scurries to safety from the beam of my flashlight. As I wander beside the ocean, my feet keep rhythm to the crashing waves like a dancer to a drum. All I hear are the waves crashing endlessly. It is as if the world has faded away, and I am all that is left. More crabs make a getaway as I turn around to see if anyone else showed up for a night walk, but I am the only one. It is getting late, but I do not turn back because I am at the best spot on the entire beach, the point where sand and water is all I can see. There are no high-rise condos or busy streets with honking cars. The impatient crowds of people needing to accomplish everything and make it everywhere as fast as they can are replaced by all the time in the world. The night is too dark to see the horizon, but I feel as if the line where the sky touches the water is the edge of the world. I feel mist spray on my face as if the ocean is welcoming me back with a kiss. I watch as the waves take with them my footprints in the sand. They reach as far as they can to remove every trace of my hike. If they miss a few on the first try, they always succeed in their vanishing act on the second. They reach out for me also, circling around my ankles. Although they do not take me with them, I am already theirs. Everything will always belong to the ocean.