I have been on this beach for 35 years and still I’m learning new things about it. Meet Hook. He is my pet seagull and he lives on my beach. Whenever I am sitting in my chair eating a snack (chips of any kind) he comes and walks in circles around my chair waiting for me to throw out a chip. He also brings the rest of his gang and screams at them if they even try to get his chip. I never knew Seagulls inhabited a certain stretch of beach and lived there and never moved. Hook was my own little research project this summer. You might ask how could I be sure it’s Hook and the same crew? His name hints at that. If you look closely you will see a piece of nylon fishing wire about a foot long protruding from his bill. A giant fishing hook is securely fastened in the corner of his mouth. Everytime I see Hook I feel how much it must have hurt when it first happened. He must have not been able to eat for days, and every movement must have been excruciating. Eventually the hook became part of his mouth and the pain probably subsided. He had no choice to push through the pain. He wasn’t hurt bad enough or long enough to die so he HAD to endure. Hook is my inspiration. I see him and his gang everyday on my beachwalk, too. On days that my walk is is therapy for my troubles, when I see Hook, I think, I’m not hurt bad enough or long enough to not live, so I too, must push through my pain, whatever it might be at the moment. Sometimes my pain is real bad and I know it’s something that is going to take time to get over, I look at Hook and know that in time, my skin too will grow over my pain and allow me to move on, just as Hook does everyday.
So Seagulls amaze and teach me, another day goes by, and…I have written.
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