This week, I wanted to share a story. One of the besties and me reminisce about this moment often and we laugh comparing our natures when we were younger and now that we’re ending the decade of our 20’s. It’s so interesting, looking back at how we processed life, our surroundings, the boldness we displayed on taking adventures–big or small. You look back and mourn a little, that girl you used to be.
When we were nineteen, twenty, it was late at night–probably ten-thirty, eleven-thirty–and we decided we wanted to spontaneously go to the beach. We live in Florida, so it wasn’t a far fetched plan. The thought was magical, it seemed. It was three girls and two boys. Without even thinking, we got in the car and just drove. No pre-planning, just off the beach we went. At night. We arrived and found parking in a secluded, dark area, then headed off toward a corner opening that led to the sand right next to the ocean. We laughed, walked around, split up, plopped on the sand, passed strangers, gazed at the stars…we were young…and fearless.
Let us fast forward ten years…
It’s late at night and the same bestie from ten years ago and I decided we want to be spontaneous.
“Let’s go to the beach like we used to when we were young!”
We got our happy butts in the car, blasted the tunes and headed off to the beach at roughly the same time of night we did all those years ago. We park in a secluded area, double check doors are locked, look around at any suspicious activity then head off to an opening onto the beach. We walk through a long enclosed brush after passing two hotels and reach a rounded area with a stretched wooden walkway. We sit on the concrete separating this area from the sand and ocean up ahead which you can hear but can’t see from the darkness. The area we’re sitting in is lit with hazy yellow light posts and suddenly, my ‘I have watched too many Lifetime movies’ spidey senses tingle. Vane is facing one direction and I, the other. I see a couple men walking past and though we’re talking “casually”, my eyes are checking out every angle.
This isn’t how we remembered it when we were younger?
We’re chatting, the two men passed us and then…I notice over her shoulder two other guys walking along the sand, heading our way and there’s another walking along the ‘boardwalk’. I make eye contact with her and begin,
“Ten and Two,” I mutter through clenched teeth. “Ten and Two,” I say with a bit of urgency.
Now, you may laugh because looking back, so did we, but at the moment…so not laughing. Vane got up and faced that direction and confirmed the uneasy feeling I had inside at these two men, specifically who were heading out way. Her and I start heading towards the long brush. We start walking at a brisk pace and I take out my phone, prepping it for ‘911’.
One second, these guys were still a good distance away, halfway through the brush, where no one would witness, we hear them RIGHT behind us. We start power walking. For them to have gotten so close to us required them to practically run to close the previous gap. Now, things were really not funny. We pass the brush threshold and head towards the hotel entrance with people and valet workers still outside–thankfully! We reach the hotel and stop to rest. We look back and the guys stop abruptly at the brush threshold. They linger at the threshold for a bit, then sit at a nearby bench with us still in their view.
“Oh, hell to the no!” I thought. “We refuse to be the star of our own Lifetime original movie” we said, then laughed through our nerves.
These guys meant us harm. We were dumbfounded. How the hell did we do this when we were younger? We didn’t consider the bums lying down on the sand that we walked past or the couple, who knows what they were doing on the sand. We were so oblivious to the big bad world when we were younger, hence making us–Fearless.
It was a bit sad, losing that naivety. Now that we’re older, we have no excuse. We’re more aware of the world. We’re wiser and now know that venturing to the beach at almost midnight, to walk along the ocean shore–that was the plan–in utter darkness while all sorts of drunk, drugged or wrong motive men lurk in the dark corners, mayyyyybe isn’t the smartest plan. Literally, two minutes of lingering and the guys got up and walked back towards the beach.
But Oh, How I Miss Being Fearless
There, of course, I believe is a balance to that–being fearless. I’m older. When we get older, we become more aware of the world around us, the joys and dangers of it alike. We learn we’re not invincible, but it shouldn’t hold us back, cause us to hide out like a hermit, afraid to take risks.
The moral of the story here? Learn to ‘Be Brave’. ‘Be Fearless’. It’s been my motto this year.And with that, let’s up the cheese and finish it with a relevant Tay Tay track.
Hit it Taylor!
(technically, you have to press play…right…)
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