Preteen Thrill Seeking

I took my 6F sweetheart to a museum in the big city on the coast. Her favorite exhibit was an open water tank with sea creatures that kids could pick up and examine. The museum closed earlier than expected, and she was so disappointed. She wanted to see the ocean. It was rainy and windy, but we had a few hours to kill, we were close, and she lives far enough away that seeing the ocean was a rare event. Let's do it!

So we drove along the coastline to an ocean community outside the city and found a good place to park near a lighthouse and a harbor. It was raining, and the wind was strong enough to rock the car. There was also fog, but we could still see the lighthouse in the distance and a few boats in the harbor.

She pointed to a jetty and said "let's go out there!" Ya, right! the waves were crashing right over it. "That looks a little too scarey to me." "It's not scarey! I'll show you!" She grabbed my hand and started to pull. "Well YOU can go if you want, but I'm staying here where it's safe." Suprise suprise ... she opened the door and started running toward the jetty.

I got out of the car and got ready to catch up to her if I had to, but I didn't think she'd get too close. She stopped for a moment about half way there, then turned around and ran back. She reached her arms up, signalling me to pick her up, which I did.

She decided the jetty idea wasn't a good one, so she pointed to a cement barrier and wanted to go there instead. The waves were crashing against that, too, but not as violently. So I carried her in my arms and climbed on top of the cement wall right next to the water.

She was looking down over the edge at the swirling water until she heard the roar of an incomming wave and looked up. "aaa..." she put her arms around me and burried he face in my chest. She squeezed her arms and legs around me with a powerful deathgrip and braced for impact.

BOOOM! The wave crashed into the cement barrier and a huge wall of salt water shot up in the air a few feet from us. The sound was deafening, and my legs got soaked.

She leaned back and looked at me in total amazement at how we had just survived certain death. She was breathing deeply and uncontrollably, her eyes wide open with excitement. What an adreneline rush!

Woa! Here comes another one! She held on tight and pressed her head against me, this time letting out a scream as the wave hit.

Crash!! The sound of the wave was so loud, I couldn't even hear her. After the wave, she leaned back and giggled hysterically as the frigid salt water rained down on us. she held my hands and leaned back further to look out at the ocean with her head upside down. She was laughing so hard ... as if to say "Ha! We beat you!"

Each time, she squeezed harder and yelled louder when a wave hit, and relaxed more and laughed harder between the waves. We stayed until we were too cold to stay any longer.

We went back to the car and I dried her off as best as I could without changing her clothes. She sat in the car under a blanket with her teeth chattering. Brrrr. "I think we should get a hot cocoa before we head home. What do you think?" "Ya!"

We found a diner and got a table. The waitress brought some hot drinks, and crayons so she could color the paper placemats, which had a pictures of lighthouses and seascapes on them. We talked about lighthouses, jetties, widow walks, and the things we saw. (a widow walk is a railed platform on the roof of a house by the sea. They were used by women to look for ships on the horizon while waiting for their husbands to come home from a sea voyage)

The place was about half full, and very quiet, except for my sweetheart and I. It became obvious that everyone there was listening to our conversation and watching us out of the corner of their eye. Everything she said and did was magic, as always. A woman at the table next to us kept saying "shhh!" to her boyfriend/husband any time he tried to talk, because she didn't want to miss anything we said.

At one point, my sweetheart looked around to see if anyone was listening, and got close to me to use her secretive whisper voice. (which everyone in the room can hear) She pointed to a guy with a beard at another table and asked "Is he a pirate?" Everyone in the diner laughed out loud, dispite their best efforts to pretend they weren't listening, then tried to hide it. It was a bad moment to be sipping coffee for one lady. "No, he doesn't have an eye patch or a wooden leg, so he can't be." (The "pirate" was with a group of guys who looked like professional fishermen, so he might have a new nick name at work now)

I am so proud of her. When we came in, everyone was as dreary and miserable as the weather outside. It was a completely different place when we left. Everywhere she goes, she lifts the spirits and brings so much joy and happiness to everyone around her.

I called her mom to let her know we were on our way back, and we started the long drive home. Soon after we started the drive, she wanted to sing. so I taught her a nautical song that my dad taught me when I was young: "What shall we do with a drunken sailor" She sat on her hands and tapped her toes together and bobbed her head back and fourth to the beat as we sang together. She was so sexy with her long hair almost dry, and a serious look on her face as she sang and moved to the music. She is always so beautiful in the twilight hour of her day. It was obvious she'd be asleap and need to be carried in when we got back to her house.

Preteen Thrill Seeking - GM