there is something about standing ankle deep in a near-frozen ocean

with warm sun baking my shoulders and steady winds throwing grains of sand against my skin

that makes me want to throw my phone into the frothing break and never come back.

despite the love i have for traffic sounds and tall buildings,

bike lanes and electric energy pulsing through the streets at all hours of the day and night,

i would leave it all behind to fall asleep to the sounds of the ocean every evening

and wake to the rays of sun.

there is something so simple in standing barefoot in the sand,

burying my toes under little mounds of granules and staring out as far as i can see until the blue of the sky merges with the blue of the ocean

and the horizon line is nothing but an illusion.

there are entire worlds beneath the waves that are still untouched by human hands,

and the metaphors of space hang low over the breaking waves as the sky and the water grow closer together,

and just as a wave crashes over my feet i realize that

despite their names

every single ocean touches each other and they all touch every continent,

so standing here with my feet in the water

i am touching the entire world at once.