Message to the sea --iCyFiRe

This is a Personal Narrative about a memory that I had to write for English class (that's due tomorrow). I didn't want to put it in Strictly Fiction, because well..It's not fiction! Please tell me what you think of it :o) Thanks! And please don't complain about littering....lol

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Ever since I was little, I've wanted to put a message into a bottle and send it out to the sea. You never know what kind of person will find it, or where they will find it. A response in the mail from this person, years after sending it on it's voyage, would be incredible.

It was July 13, 2002. My family was visiting Ventura, California for a concert that I wanted to go to. It was the day after the concert, just hours before we were to head home in our car, and I was excited. For the first time in years, I was going to a beach. I was going to send out my message in a bottle!

I had left my sandals in the car, so as I walked down the beach with that bottle in my hand, I could feel the soft sand sink between my toes. Walking closer to the water, the wet sand seemed to stick to my feet like chewed gum, only to be washed away by the water's pull. We walked a ways down the beach; I was close enough to the ocean so that my feet would get a rush of cool water every few seconds. It's an amazing feeling...Just walking down the coast, the sun out with few clouds in the sky, your feet in the water...

We found the spot that seemed to have smaller waves that wouldn't bring the bottle back to shore. I gave it to my father, for he had a stronger throw. I watched as the bottle tumbled through the air, finally diving into the ocean. I saw the bright yellow cap of the Yoo-Hoo bottle floating on the ocean's surface. We were disappointed when a few moments later, it surfed out of the ocean and onto the shore.

My dad tried numerous times after that. It had to be about thirty throws, yet every time the waves would devour the poor little bottle that held my message to a stranger in it, and it'd come back to us. There were a couple times that we were sure that it would go out into the ocean, and onto the unknown. But then a huge wave would capture the glass bottle and return it to the ocean's visitors.

I ended up leaving the ocean with the bottle still in my hand, just as I had arrived, but I was satisfied because I had tried, and had fun trying. We had a couple hours visit at the ocean, I got to play in the water (and taste a few swallows of the salty liquid while I was at it), something which I can't do here in Arizona. The beach is heaven to visitors who don't get to experience it often.

Someday, I'll send out my message. I'll be able to watch it float away from me, and out into the world. Then, I'll be able to know that somewhere, there is a letter to an unknown stranger that I have handwritten just for them. I look forward to another few hours at the beach sometime in the future, trying numerous times to contact some one from another beach, another state, maybe even another country. Next time, I won't leave until that bottle is out of my site, floating upon the horizon, its path unknown.

I finally got to try something I always wanted to do, even if I didn't get the bottle out. Next time... :o)

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