The Dock...

There's a sound that water makes against an aluminum fishing boat, when that boat is tied up to a dock. It's not a sound that is easy to describe but if you've ever sat in one and just listened, its a sound you will never forget. If you lay your head down on the side of the boat it's even more magnified. Almost sounds like a deep cavernous echo. If you add old tires to the sides of the dock, so that they protect the boat against the dock, they will create another sound entirely as the water carries the boat up and down with the incoming waves.  If the water is just right and it's not real wavy it can almost put you to sleep if you just close your eyes and float. 

It's a sound I can never forget. Probably because it will forever remind me of a happier place, during happier times. It's the sound of my childhood. The noise of my teenage years. The place I felt closest to God than in any Church I've ever been to. 

It's not just the place I'm remembering right now but it's the sound I'm longing for. It was the sound of simpler times. Uncomplicated relationships. Slower paces. A freedom from the things that daily reign you in. It's the sound of a smile when you wake. The sound of a screen door slamming and no place to be. 

The sound is forever ingrained in my heart and I can hear it from time to time if I focus long and hard enough. I can close my eyes and feel a myriad of things but most importantly I realize I was feeling anything at all. It, the sound, made me blissfully aware of feeling period. I stopped thinking and just drifted with it. 

It's the most peaceful, tranquil, soothing sound I can conjure in my mind when I need to feel anything at all. 

I will take you back there. So we can hear it together. I will smile and listen as it washes all of the burdens away.  All of the sorrow. The pain. The hurt. The anger. The longing. Removes all of it just by listening. Like a warm embrace, I will close my eyes and let that sound wrap me up and once again, only feel peace.