Come with the family for a day at the beach
Only to get stuck on the deadened mass of cars on the highway.
Grow increasingly worried
By the sight of endless taillights,
And a new sign every 50 feet, claiming:
One land ahead
Expect delays
Road construction next two miles
Beware of falling rocks.
Curse El Nino under your breath
As your children become restless in the back seat, squawking
Geez Dad, where are you taking us? Out of the country?
Realize you wasted your hard earned money on yesterday’s carwash
When only 24 hours later,
Your black 4 Runner wears a thick suit of dust on its once clean paint job.
Finally push the speedometer above 10 mph,
As you pass a massive conglomeration of landslide, barriers, rubble
And smiling Caltrans workers.
Stop first in town
When your wife insists the need for Starbucks,
And try to look like you belong in the crowd of
Shaved heads,
Tattooed arms
Pierced tongues
And scantily clothed bodies
Of the city s youth.
Sip your grande decaf nonfat no foam extra hot hazelnut latte,
And wonder exactly what it is you paid $3.95 for.
Be persuaded, once again by your wife
To look through the mystic, new age shops,
Smelling strongly of incense,
Magickal ambiance set by soft music and wind chimes.
Return to your car after purchasing an overpriced necklace
For your born again hippie sister back in ‘Frisco.
Finally arrive at Zuma
Squinting into clean, smogless sunlight.
Delight at the massage of pure hot hand on your weary feet.
Relax on your beach towel
With a book and a soda.
Listen to your children
laughing and screaming with delectation
At the foamy fingers of salt water
Licking their dancing toes.
Notice the light of contentment
In your wife’s smiling eyes as she rubs sunscreen on your back
And tells you what a great husband you are
And how much she loves you.
Realize:
It’s worth it.
Tiffany Betts