“Standing on the Dock of the Bay”

Beneath the sun I stand to rest upon the white wooden dock my grandfather built, long before I existed. I am now an adult but continue to want a dog and a bicycle wherever I go. I create my own fun and my imagination is endless if I allow it to be. Standing here on the dock of the bay brings me back to my school age years. I remember young and fearless friends sailing off the dock to reconnect with the big black inner tube set adrift. The high and low dive and the water slide that is no more. Those summers of my youth were almost enough fun for a lifetime.

I disappeared for many years to redefine my life, have a career and become a professional in the big city. It is good to become educated as long as you never forget where you came from. My grandfather told me this and I took it to heart so I purchased the property many years later, remodeled the old house and moved in with my golden retriever at the beginning of winter. The house is quiet and I can work in solitude on my books. Then came spring and the noise of a red airplane filled the sky and landed at the dock of the bay. The man is incredibly charming, fit and tall, and yet I still told him that this is private property. He smiled and introduced himself and I remembered that name from long ago… from this very dock, a childhood friend, one who flipped off the high dive in style to land with the clean, small splash. His calm demeanor won me over.

By the end of the summer he calls to tell me, “Stand on the Dock of the Bay.” Being a romantic at heart, I put on a dress and hat and peddle quickly with Goldie by my side. Standing on the dock of the bay I can hear his engine throttle, I can see his red plane and I feel his words for the first time, “I Love You.”