Play it Again, Sam

I spent a large part of Monday's holiday hanging out with my little boy so that my ex-wife could have the time to go to a day spa appointment she had set up a while back. Any extra time I get to spend with him is golden, and I really didn't have anything planned for the day -- so it wasn't any kind of inconvenience either way. In fact, the only real problem I could foresee about the deal was the fact that I had been a little tight for cash lately, so I wouldn't be able to spoil him as much as I usually do when we're together.

Luckily the two of us are pretty good at making our own fun -- so after spending some time helping him try to master the roller skates he got for his birthday, we loaded up the car and headed out towards the beach. It was a gorgeous day and if there's anything the both of us love to do, it's play around in the surf. About the only negative aspect I could imagine was the possibility that it might be really crowded -- but it wasn't like we were on a tight schedule or anything, so even that wasn't that big of a deal.

We found a place to park, gathered up our stuff, and headed out to a spot near the Jax Beach pier where I sometimes go to surf. As expected, the shore was thick with people, but not to the point where we couldn't find a little area in the shallows to splash around in. I watched close as he hopped in and around the breakers, helped him up when he fell down, and lifted him up over any larger waves that happened to come through.

Every now and then he'd make a break for the shore to chase off seagulls and make little sand castles, which gave me chances to check out the scenery all around us. The remnants of a recent northeaster offered a handful of surfers a few quick rights to cut into, which was fun to watch -- but this is me we're talking about, so it wasn't like I didn't spend my fair share of time checking out the available eye candy all around.

You must remember this -- a kiss is just a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh..

If there's one thing you can say about women in Jacksonville, it's that when it comes to beachwear -- just about everyone thinks that they look good in a bikini. Some women are more right than others in this assumption, but there's still something to be said for the relative chutzpah shown by some of the more rubenesque beachgoers you come across in this town -- regardless of how much you might personally prefer to see them in something a little less revealing.

One trend I got a particular kick out of were all the little party girls in name-brand bikinis with their ridiculous little "I'll-simply-die-if-I-get-my-hair-wet" top-knot ponytails who thought it might be a good idea to wade into the water still holding the plastic cups filled with whatever red bull-mixed concoction in their hands -- only to get all pissed off when the eventual wave came along to knock them over, soaking them to the bone and sweeping whatever was left of their $9 drinks out to sea.

Serves you right, socialite.

But It was after watching this scene play itself out for like the third time in the same hour that something different caught my eye: Carmel brown skin, soft curves wrapped tightly by a light blue two-piece -- the kind of thing that usually makes me take notice, except that this time it was more than just the dog in me chasing a cat. Because even though when you think about it -- it could have been any one of a million girls from anywhere in the world -- in an instant I knew that right there, not ten yards away from where I was standing

Chemistry hottie was splashing around, playing in the surf ..with her boyfriend.

It was a unexpected momentary bummer, not so much because of the dude -- because as crappy as finding that truth out was, it only made sense for a girl that fine to have someone in her life; but when you consider the sheer mathematical odds involved in placing this one girl in this one place on the exact same beach where I just happened to be -- it's hard not to think that someone upstairs has somehow got it in for you.

Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she had to walk into mine.

The thing about it was, even though she has longer hair, she looked a lot like (although nowhere near as good as) what j looks like in a bikini -- which probably has a lot to do with why I look in at her so often at work. So even though the visual confirmation of the nameless bohunk that I'd always figured had to exist was kind of a downer -- it was enough of a mental tab of paper to send me back a summer previous to a nameless condominium pool, waist-deep in the water, giving a silent curved lip smile to a certain purple-blue bikini with the little heart cut-out near the hipbone that I can still see clear as crystal to this very day.

That alone was enough to put that same kind of smile on my lips back in the real world, and despite the relative suckiness of the whole scene enabled me to kind of put it all in perspective. Because although I certainly won't ever be his biggest fan -- chemistry hottie seemed to be having a really great time frolicking around in the water with her dude.

..And in the end, I suppose that's something to be happy about in itself (well, not really -- but still)

I gave myself a moment more to appreciate the curves I'd only imagined her having while at work, chalked the whole thing up as just another brick in the wall, and spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the beach with my son.

The fundamental things apply, as time goes by.

[Listening to:  Ill Niño – "All the Right Words" ]