Everything was insanely alive, now you see it, now you don’t. I thought, it’s the light, it’s the water, it’s changing every second, it’s always doing this whether I’m here to witness it or not.

I was always observing. Even while talking, living, going through every motion, I was watching myself and the situation. That’s a writer. Always observing.

In the tide pool I was riveted by fat pink sea stars sitting like satisfied gangsters and seemingly unconcerned by their exposure; gulls would peck at them but the sea stars simply grew replacement limbs.

The sky seemed abruptly to have had enough of my dithering and dramatically lightened up around the glowing moon, which retreated like an aging sovereign before the rising sun.

Between the beach and the big breaking waves about a quarter mile off was a stretch of bumpy, glistening reef, its usual blanket of water pulled back by a celestial hand.

I was always observing. Even while talking, living, going through every motion, I was watching myself and the situation. That's a writer. Always observing.