Draft for essay Number 3

I hope i did this correctly. but here goes for anyone who reads this i would love your optinions.


Everybody needs a place to go where they can “escape” from the world. For me this place is the beach. I am a jersey shore guy, I grew up with on the water and the beach. As long as I can think back everything something major has happened to me in my life whether it be good or bad I have always gone to my beach. In this place I am free from everything I leave my cell phone behind and walk the beach just thinking. My beach is about 15 minutes away from my house. Its a straight shot down route 36 I would give more details, but I don't want everyone trying to go to my spot and ruining it for me. This place has so many memories for me, both good and bad, that without it I dont think my life would be what it is today. Now I think about the important things that have happened to me throughout life and how this beach has been there like a friend holding my hand. I remember how I discovered this amazing friend.
When I was in high school I was living life as best as I could looking for fun in every situation. I met this girl through some friends and we hit it off, her name was Bridget. She didnt go to my high school and she wasn't like any girl who I had ever met before. The times we would only get to hang out would be late at night or like on sundays. Since we were only 17 and where we live there really isnt to much going on we were always looking for somwhere to go and hang out with some privacy. So one night I went to pick her up and as we started to drive she said she knew of a place where we could go to be alone. At that moment I was so excited ( and no not in that way) because first of all I was a prude and never had a girlfriend so my mind was racing with countless thoughts. We went down route 36 towards Sandy Hook and finally stopped at this part one the beach. We parked and walked onto the beach and I remember the first thing I thought was how beautiful the night sky looked. Tne moon light was reflecting on the ocean in that ways you only see in a movie. It seemed like god or something was using the moon to refect a path out to sea into the infinite unknown. I stopped and just stared and just couldnt believe I was witnessing something to amazing.
Finally, after staring Bridget grabbed my arm and started to pull me and so we started to walk on the beach. Ofcoure the first thing we both did was take our shoes off and throw them to the side. We were walking and I kept staring at the ocean as we talked about the most simple things. After about 15 minuntes of walking and talking we came to a very dark place on the beach and I decided to lay down and look at the stars. She first looked at me with an awkward face, but once I put my hand out and told her she could trust me and she was safe she layed down besides me. For a few minutes we just layed in silence staring at the sky. Where we are from there are always tons of lights on and you can only see some stars at night so personally I never really looked and cared for the stars, but that night it was different. The sky was black and the stars looked so bright and amazing.
We started to talk and attempt to describe the beautiful canvas we were looking and then she put her head on my chest and grabbed my hand. At that moment my heart started to beat faster. The sand had a slight coldness to it but it formed to our bodie making very comfortable to lay on. I remember the warm breeze and the sound the waves were making as there crashed on the shore. I closed my eyes and felt her warmth at my side as I smelt the salt water. To say the least I was at a moment of pure happiness. Then conventantly her phone went off and well we had to leave. We layed there for a few minutes and then she got up. The moonlight hit her eyes and she put her arm on the other side of me and looked at me. I gazed into her eyes and honestly couldnt move I was frozen in that spot and all I could feel was my heart beat. Then slowly we moved in and we had our first kiss. I know it sounds like a movie scene or I made it up but it was that perfect. We layed there and kissed and slowly got up and I gently held her hand as we walked back to my truck and I took her home.
Senior year came to and end and so did my night on the beach. Like most first love stories it had an end. We both got into college, ofcourse mine was 2 hours from hers. We tried to talk as much as possible but like all good things it had to end. We parted friends and still talk presently. After that one night, I fell in love with two things, Bridget, and the beach. Every weekend I could, I would go and walk the beach especially at night and smile. It was my place of solitude and happiness.
Though the beach has great memories there, it also has a few pain memories as well. These were the times I was in a dark place in my life and well if it wasnt for the beach who knows what would have happened. The worse one is the most painful of them all. When I think of this day and night I get a sharp pain my side and I breath very heavily.
It was my freshman year in college and I had a lot on my plate. I decided to be a double major, get a job on campus, as well as play for the schools football team. So to say the least I was coming to the complete understanding on what stress truly was. One day I was getting out of practice and was turning my phone back on when I saw that I has two voicemails. The first was from my friends just seeing how I was doing and such and the second was from my mother. When I got to hers, she wanted me to call home as soon as possible, and I knew from the sound of her voice that somthhing was wrong. So I dialed immediately and to this day I still can here the phone ring.
When she picked up she told me she had to tell me something and that I had to promise her that I would be strong and not freak. So I agreed and then got quite to hear what she was slowly going to tell me. Then I heard something that was so painful it was like I just got punched in the face by a boxer. She told me that my father was just diagnosed with cancer. My world just collapsed as I listened to her expalin what they found out. My dad hadnt been feeling well, he kept having terrible stomach pain so he went to the doctors and after some test they discovered that he had bladder cancer and needed to immediatelty go for radiation treatment. She then told me that this was going to be riskful because he was a older, out of shape, and not in healthy standards. After she told me this and asked me if I was okay, we hung up and I just fell on a bench. I couldnt breath and couldnt believe this was happening.
I know how cancer can be beaten these days and how there are so many medical advances that I should be more positive. The only thing that kept replaying in my head was how we lost my dad's mother, father, two uncles, and greatgrandmother all to cancer and other related medical issues that occurerd after they were all diagnosed with cancer. I was so scared, I didnt know what to do or where to go. So I went to liqour store bought a bottle of Jack Daniels and a box of newports and then got back in my car and started to drive. All I was doing was crying and just staring at the road I knew I had to be strong for my dad and I needed to clear my head. So before I knew it I was on the parkway going south and the I realized how close I was to my beach. I figured that is such a place of happiness for me I should go there.
Once I got there I parked and started to walked with my head down. All I could think was how could this happen, what did my dad do wrong to deserve this. Then I started to think how me and him werent as close and the last thing we did togther was fight over something stupid like coming home late. The I sat down on the sad, and it had the same cold feeling I was used to and I started to drink. I just kept rubbing my hand in the sand as I drank thinking of all the worse consequences that could lead from what I had learned. As the night progressed and my tears continued to flow and the drunker I got the more depressed I got.
After I was about 3 quarters of the way through the bottle I decided I had to walk a little so I started to walk down the beach and I felt dizzy and needed to sit. When I finally got my head straight I realzed where I was sitting the same spot where my and Bridget layed countless nights. I then did the only thing I could think of, I closed my eyes and started to pray. I remember I was clenching the sand so tightly and punching the ground and asking god why. Then I sat up and looked at the ocean and there was that same moonlight path I had seen before. I closed my eyes and and took a deep breath, as I was tatsing the seas air I gently felt the breeze hit me. I stood up and started to walk more on the beach. Thats when I decided I wasnt going to let this beat me or my father. I was going to be there for him and together we were going to get through it. As I stumbled back to my car I picked up what remained of the my liqour and dumped it out and then threw it on the ground. The I looked back at the bottle and ran over to it and throw it in the garbage. Then I went and passed out in my truck and in the morning I took another walk on the beach feeling reborn.
For the months that my dad was going through his treatments I was probably at the beach 4 times a week just walking it and thinking. As upset as I would get or what ever mood I would be in the minute I started to walk and breath that seas air and feel the sand on my feet all my feelings would go away. My dad is now in remission and doing a lot better. He still has to go get checked to make sure that the cancer hasn't returned, and on those days I make sure I take a walk on my beach to wait for the news. So far so good and im keeping my head up with everyday and making sure I let my dad know how much I love him.
The beach has done so much for me, it has given me my first and always love, while it also helped me get through a very difficult time in my life. The night when I was there with Bridget the beach took the role of being a setting for our moment together, and just let us have it in the best way. Then the night I went there because of what I learned about my father, it took the role of being there and listening to my sarrow and not judging me. It was like the times when your friends sit and just listen to you vent and dont say a word. There are many other memories I could talk about that me and the beach share and I know in my heart there will be many more. I believe in my heart that everyone needs a place like this to go and feel free but also feel safe. A place of pure happiness that can never be tarnished no matter why your there.