Gidget Goes New Jersey

The 1961 pineapple/surfboard classic, "Gidget Goes Hawaiian."*

Who knew I would see a surf lesson on the beach today? 

Co-star James Darren (Moondoggie to 

Deborah Walley's Gidget) just died this week.

 Image from HERE. 

My iPhone camera lens is cloudy/fuzzy so I couldn't take photos of the beautiful Spring Lake beach today. I went to meditate, ponder, pray, rest, recharge and fill my soul. Dan had an article deadline. I arrived at 4, stayed two hours and was home by 7:30 to make salad with a Jersey tomato from a farmstand down that way and homemade croutons, plus quick pork chops with rosy applesauce from a jar. (Finicky Spice actually ate the whole dinner, yay. I got the jar of Red Jacket Orchards applesauce, from the Finger Lakes, at Dry Goods Refillery, a plastic-free grocery shop in town.) 

The waves were calm. I counted 13 Sunday surfers in all, though they weren't getting much action. Then I saw a petite woman giving a lesson to another woman in the sand, the student on her stomach on the board, practicing the paddling motion. Soon, they were in the water. A happy sight. Empowering.

I studied the sea and went in up to my shins. The water was mild and I probably should have worn my swimsuit, but the air was cold up here. I folded up my wool sweater into a nice cozy pillow and rested, first on my right side, then on my left. I took in the lapping white foam, the rhythm. I prayed a little. How lucky I am to live on the East Coast, not far from the Atlantic Ocean. (It took 1 hour and 7 minutes to get there.) But as I looked at the endless glassy blue surface, considered its depth, I thought, It looks so pretty but underneath, it holds some unknown, unpleasant or scary things. Nothing is perfect. The sea is a wonder but I wouldn't want to explore on my own down there. I would sink quickly, spiral down, and possibly face sharks or jutting rocks that could make me bleed.

I'm trying to say, beauty can bring pain hidden under its surface. Life, like the sea, is a gift but with tricky parts. It comforted me to realize that, to put things in perspective.

I'm going to doze. Good night.

*I rewatched this movie on Tubi TV Friday night, while Dan was out working at a party. I love the cast, including Carl Reiner as Gidget's Dad. But as we fell asleep, I said, "Please remind me never to watch a 'Gidget' movie again. Everything always works out so well, all tied up with a ribbon and a bow." Parenting teens in 1961 looks much different than it is 63 years later. Some basics are the same, since teens then and now pushed parental boundaries. But sugar-coated endings are not real in many cases.