Ocean Beach with M

M and I set our things down near the life guard station after a lazy coffee date up Newport. We found ourselves with time and good company. Luckily I have been keeping my bocce set in my car for just such an occasion.

We sat for a minute in view of the pier, the passerbys of the market and the seagulls overhead. Ice cream waffles, burning ‘sage’ and ocean spray add some scent to the classic OB shore.

M hadn’t played in years, but that didn’t stop her from using the gentle curve of the hill and some sand traps to great effect. She even seemed to shine most when the polino was obscured by a dune.

The ridge before the beach gave some excellent challenge. Sweeping platforms of well trodden grass make their way into the sand above. Fairways abound between yogis, winos and puppies. The grass is mixed enough in growth or maintenance to have thick seedy sections and broad bald stony patches for a variety of rolling speeds and predictability.

M broke out early with a few good rounds, even shutting me out with a four pointer. Later I managed to win a round touching the target ball. Somewhere between talking about swimming through a red tide, dating in a city filled with people passing through and a few of our more private memories of the madness of OB, we got closer and closer.

I had forgotten my tape measure, so I barefoot marched a close call in M’s favor.

This might not be the best place at all times of the day or year as the area is rightfully popular. We almost hit someone sleeping in the grass once or twice. But while the Torrey Pines golf course is beautiful, the People’s Republic of Ocean Beach is free. I’ll take some crust punks smoking on picnic tables if I can get a tee time on OB time.

M and I both are from more rural places, but have found our way into more urban and liberal spaces as our lives have unfolded. We spoke about the anonymity of the urban setting, the too-much-knowing-each-other of the rural setting and about how there is good and evil in both the cultures that live there. We spoke most about which things we’ve picked to synthesize into something like a mature adult. But you know, a lot of times there’s a rock in the path of your ball and it goes nowhere like where you were aiming.

M closed out the game by scoring a point uphill into the ocean.

I congratulated her with a high five and an offer of Pizza Port.

A DJ started blaring some music for the hula hoopers and poi dancers, so we followed our cue towards lunch. And as if OB knew it needed to be so much itself, we ran into a rock climber friend making jewelry out of his van.

✌️