I miss
Sand and wind
All mixed up together,
The salty smell of that
Sea breeze
And
The sea foam that flies across the Seawall
When
The air gets turbulent

I miss morning dew
That
Makes pathways like snow
When you walk across it,
And makes
It impossible for you to
See out car windows without
First wiping them down

I miss
The feel that
Dry ocean water leaves on your body
Once you lay out on the sand
And always having sand
Stuck in your toes
When we walk across the street
For lunch at The Original
Or The Sunflower Café.

I miss
Cutting my feet on the jetties,
And
Limping to the nearest
Beach Patrol tower for a band aid.
Jellyfish stings are nothing
Without cute tan lifeguards to
Rub meat tenderizer
Into your leg

I miss daring you to
Pop that washed up
Man-o-war and
Throwing shells at it in hopes
We could make it explode,
Then leaving it for new adventures of
Finding sharks teeth among shell fragments
And you saying it
Wasn’t so hard,
But by the time the sun was setting you
Had only found
Three quarters of a sand dollar.