into the blue

Today was a great day.

I packed water and munchies and headed out onto the spur, all gritty wind and sun-bleached rocks. It's slow going sometimes, picking your way, but well worth the effort. The scattered little plants leaned low, away from the wind, pastel flowers nodding. My boots kicked their heads, they didn't care.

As the spur narrowed, I became surrounded by blue. Blue sea, slowly swelling, with myriad diamonds playing peek-a-boo. Blue sky, huge, just a few wisps of white, strewn and torn. Hundreds of seagulls wheeling high, appearing lost in the vastness. Their cries thin, mewling. Blown.

At the tip, I sat on a rock, contemplating the swell, the surf. And munching. I could feel my cheeks browning. I imagined my eyes becoming bluer, drinking in the blue of the sea, the sky. The air itself tasted blue.

Without warning, a smooth dark head rose from the water no more than twenty feet away. Huge dark eyes gazed at me, gently curious. Then the seal lay on its back, little back flippers held up to the sun. Sunbathing seal. Contemplating me, contemplating it. Slow-mo bobbing.

What a thrill. A connection. Eye to eye with a creature living a life so different to mine, yet we both need to breathe, eat, sleep. Play, contemplate. And sunbathe.

You want a moment like that to last. I accepted it wouldn't, fully appreciated the transience of the thrill. The seal hung around for a long time anyway. It was truly lovely and I'll never forget it. Magic.

I blinked. It was no longer there. I felt high all the way back across the rocks.