The sea is so vast and my beach is so small.
The idea of taking a cruise never appealed to me until I reluctantly boarded one because of a friend’s insistence. This was many years ago. To my surprise, I found out that I like cruising. It is so relaxing. I had time to read and leisure to meet interesting people on my morning jogs (yes, in those days!) on deck six. The food was appealing and the evening shows were entertaining.
I’ve taken several cruises since then, some with friends and sometimes alone.
What I enjoy most are mornings at sea. I sit out on my balcony and pray, wonder, muse, even dream. Amazingly, out there on my private perch, there is a kind of epic silence, probably made more-so by the vastness and spread of the sea as the sun lifts its head above the horizon.
On my most recent cruise, I was out on my balcony praying the Morning Prayer of the Church. We were hundreds of miles out at sea and the horizon was a bold straight line far away. Above it was a faded blue sky of cirrus clouds with the morning sun reflecting off the endless tiny waves. Nothing more. No land, no birds, nothing but the gentle rippling sea as we sailed along. And then — there it was. I had to blink to make sure of what I was seeing. Floating by our ship, about forty feet away was a white globe bobbing alone on the dark sea, lit up by the morning sun.
What captured my attention as it floated past my perch was its roundness that clashed with the drifting sea. It was an intensely white sphere, about the size of a beach ball or maybe, a volleyball whitened by the action of the sun and sea. The morning sun made it shine out there.
All identification –original color, brand name — gone. Whatever color the ball had been was now bleached out.
The ball was perfectly round and white, gently bobbing and rolling by me and, then, –it was gone.
I immediately thought of “WIlson” from Tom Hanks movie, “Cast Away.” Chuck, a UPS executive survives a company plane’s crash into the sea. He is the lone survivor on a tiny, remote island. Some packages, also washed up on the island’s beach. When Chuck opens one of them he finds a brand-new white Wilson volleyball.
Later, when Chuck accidentally cuts his hand and grabs the ball, a bloody impression is left on it. The blood stained ball resembles a face and over the years Chuck talks to it — his friend for four years.
One day Wilson floated away. Chuck’s only friend pulled away from his flailing arms.
That ball that I watched float by my ship could have been any friend who drifts away before we realize what’s happening. Something we said (or neglected to say) drove our Wilson away or our friend drifted away because of lack of vigilance. My friend who loved cruises and insisted that I go with him on one has long ago faded away from my circle of friends and I’m not sure he is still with us.
Wilson sitting on the beach before he drifted away.
I wonder if anyone else saw or will see that ball somewhere out there on the waters.
But I saw it and it brought back to me the memory of my friend.