Glacial

M. M.
2 min readApr 2, 2023

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I woke up and asked my phone for a kid again this morning.

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K had answered for the first time in days, clarifying.

I’d originally missed his note because his messages somehow get swallowed by my phone, protectively.

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“u sure you’ll be able to take care of it yourself”

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“so how u wanna do it … hospital or old fashioned”

*

This is why I’ll never get free. I rolled over and went to hunt for coffee.

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Every day now, I run on the beach in Revere.

Oldest public beach in the US. Longest straight waterfront in Boston.

Facing the Atlantic.

Facing other beaches from other times.

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I read yesterday it’s 5k one way.

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Training and waiting. Killing time cause I got nowhere to go.

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I was on it yesterday, listening to Nautilius, walking because I can’t run right now, wondering why I liked Revere better than Castle Island, Lynn, Nahant, even 40 Steps … all of which are much nicer beaches really … and I think it’s because it’s so long and wide.

Expansive sand.

Real waves that feel alive, seagulls that play and catch the wind, floating for fun, like guys ride their bikes on curves. Dropping seashells and preening. Large birds. Lots of character. Same with the waves. Pearly water, majestically and slowly alive. Sand that touches water touching sky. Delicate haze. Might be oldest beach in our US, but this water has been here for centuries, thousands of years, lazily watching the shore and our civilization scramble like seagulls.

A beach not created by us but vice versa.

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Or maybe because it’s just like those beaches in Crimea from years ago, long and straight and wide, heart and soul, on which people both disappear and can be truly present.

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I read that Revere Beach was formed ten thousand years ago as a result of a melting ice glacier.

“This natural occurrence was so dramatic that it significantly disrupted the ecological arrangement of the land and habitat that existed prior to the shift. Once the water receeded, it gave way to the formation of a sand barrier, or the beach. This barrier has proven to be far superior than the force of the Atlantic Ocean and has protected both the land and the development behind the beach.”

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As a plane slowly landed overhead, a larger seagull, floating on the sparkling shielded sunset, I thought

at least I got Revere out of this.

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