Gift to the Sea

It's funny the things that seem to become part of you - things that you can't bear to lose even if they're really not intrinsically valuable. Trinkets like a toe-ring for instance. I got a toe ring kind of by accident before they were the rage and everybody started wearing them. I was wandering through downtown Boston with Alicia and Anthony and found a $5 silver ring at a street vendor's cart that I wanted for a pinky ring. I was wearing a couple of gold rings, so I reached down impulsively and put it on my toe, and there it remained until today. It's been through a summer of running around camp, tubing, canoeing, swimming, learning to waterski, learning to wakeboard, and has been complimented by a million different colors of toenailpolish without complaints. Every summer when I visit my dad, he catches me walking around barefoot and inevitably asks, "when did you start wearing that thing on your foot?" It makes me laugh that he asks about it every summer (although I think he forgot this year - or maybe I should say he remembered). It makes me smile that he noticed such a little unimportant detail about me. But today my toering became my gift to the sea. Surfing wasn't easy today. The waves were bigger than they were a couple of weeks ago. Our surfing instructors said they'll keep getting bigger throughout the fall & winter. Being little is a disadvantage when it comes to surfing. I'm not heavy enough to duck dive under the waves with a long board and it takes a lot of energy to turtle roll and then get back up on the board and paddle only to turtle roll again a few seconds later to avoid being picked up and propelled yards backwards. But I'm up for the challenge :) Apparently my toe-ring was not as determined as I was today. Several times I pushed it back up my toe, but didn't really worry about it - it's never left me before! It wasn't until I was walking along the boardwalk trying to catch a taxi back home that I looked down and realized it was missing. So the sea has claimed a little treasure, and I'm left to wonder whether some small girl playing in the sand will find it with delight and treasure it...