There is sea and sea, there is coming and going!

There is sea and sea, there is coming and going!

Sitting on the towel, by the sea, I watch in silence people parading on the wooden platforms, which lead them to the warm, soft sand, where we sink our desirous feet from the transparent water in shades of blue to green, fresh and invigorating .

Colors that make us go through all the tones of the palette, as if they were countless paintings: yellows, oranges, whites and blacks, pinks, blues, greens, reds, blues, purples, lilacs... none of the colors and tones were forgotten in stores , each to the taste of those who wear them.

The same can be said of the shapes and shapes: bikinis, trikinis, bathing suits, swimming trunks, on slim, plump or even chubby bodies, but all with the right to the sun and that incomparable salt water.

It is funny that in this profusion of colors and shapes, good humor also proliferates: the smiles and laughter released in the warm air, the fluid conversations in lively tones, in all languages, the tender gestures exchanged more frequently between couples, parents and children, in which the absence of stress and day-to-day running is relevantly noted, which they destroy, taking up a lot of space when enjoying life spontaneously.

On that immense beach, all people enjoy nature in the same way, however, as elsewhere, some differences remain: there are those who populate the loungers under the thatched umbrellas and those who simply lie down on their towels, closer to the beach. to the edge of the sea. There is a white rope on the floor that separates the space in which each of these inhabitants can remain.

The beach umbrella area is also marked with a rope perpendicular to the sea - resembling tiny houses with colorful roofs - which provide the necessary shade for the long hours of stay, whether by its inhabitants or by the small or huge lunch boxes, depending on the number of relatives and/or friends of each group of vacationers.

There are still people who religiously respect the healthy hours of sun exposure, arriving early and leaving around midday or even earlier and returning from mid to late afternoon, as opposed to those who continue to arrive late and at bad hours, not forgetting to carry their children of all ages with them, some of them still babies.

Early in the morning, groups of pre- and school-aged children arrive, inserted in summer camps whose voices awaken the sand in a lively rhythmic parrot, pouring enthusiasm in their patient and organized trip to the sea, under the supervision of their monitors, and the lifeguards. -lives who remain more attentive.

So much color, so much movement, so much harmony that we completely forget the less fortunate moments of life, in favor of a comfort and well-being of the soul, which reinforces the parade of beautiful beach clothes, involving bodies of all shapes and ages, as it always should.

Then we arrived at the sea: deliciously calm, transparent, cool, but even so, always indomitable in its want and mysterious desire. Faced with this temptation, I got up for another delicious bath, shared by one of my old and hopefully forever friends. Into the sea, diving, swaying on the surface of the water and chatting amidst our pleasurable maritime skills, in water that, chilly as I am, I was finding divine. However, at a certain point, I became aware that I was in a certain rhythmic struggle with that beautiful and desirable water and I began to think that something was not right. I also noticed that the water, which initially remained on my shoulders, was now up to my mouth, almost preventing me from speaking, to which I started to take small jumps. I appealed to my friend for us to go back to the water's edge and we started to do so, but without much result, realizing then that I wasn't able to leave the place, despite a few strokes. I was pushed in that direction by my bathing partner, in a generous and altruistic rescue attempt, but feeling bad for her breathing and with the two bathers already closer to the bathers, I began to ask them to pull me, stretching my arms claiming that I was very tired and since the lifeguards didn't realize anything, despite the attempt made. A human soul, after verifying the seriousness of my request, pulled me by the wrist, and asked another human soul who was with him, to pull me by the other, bringing me safely to the place on foot, which I thanked him very much. and being able to leave with peace of mind, after seeing that my friend was already safe, although without help. I will never forget this lady with an intensely tanned body, to whom I am infinitely grateful for her humanity, inhabiting that space with the sunbeds, to which I do not belong, in the opinion of those who pay or do not pay for beach support.

A few hours later, we found out from one of the lifeguards – the only one who didn’t stop on his continuous lookout, towards an immense beach – that that same afternoon, a gentleman had already gone to that place to fetch a man who had encountered our difficulty and who, in fact, it was about the existence of an agueiro, who decided to settle in that place, this summer, in those splendorous waters that nothing suggests its existence.

Having that information, I would have to share it with my lifeguard, in the sense of explaining to her that after all, the reason for my tiredness had to do with that same phenomenon and not just with my eventual diminished physical resistance. I went to the lady in question, entering that marked area, and she looked at me with a dry air, almost questioning "my audacity" to approach her, even keeping me at the distance that good manners dictate, sharing the information as a form of prevention for her baths and hers, including some children, and the said lady sent me away in two times, without a mere thank you, even if it was just educational, it was.

Later, continuing my discreet observation of my lifeguard, I realized that the lady did not need this information, as she only bathed right on the edge of the sea, and therefore could not be disturbed by any waterman. Thankfully, I was more relaxed, dictating my gratitude, which deserves another life, for having kept mine!

Well, here is the eventual reason for the white rope separating the two zones: some in an affirmation by image through a possible economic superiority, others, by the simplicity of education, citizenship and recognition by others. But, however, it's good that this lady lives on that side of the rope, just above the modest rectangle of sand, where I put my towel full of stories to tell, given the years that she has been with me; that I visualized and appreciated her in her beautiful and cared for summer clothes, as it allowed me at that moment to establish an identity that freed my request for help, from my throat shy and tired of that struggle, directing it to you and I will be eternally grateful for the his gesture, which without knowing it, was noble and not a simple image gesture as he certainly conceives it.

Above all, this sharing tells us all that the sea always has its irreverent side and that due to its genesis, even in the greatest moments of calm, it keeps telling us that it is not, never has been and will never be tamed by the sea. man, whether he be the one who rejoices in his existence from above or from below, as perpendicular to the white rope, lying on the shining sand.

Have a great vacation, use and abuse the colors, the powerful summer clothes, make yourself noticed but always in an elegant way, always joining your humanitarian and generous side, towards others and life, becoming incomparably more beautiful (the ). But, remember that, there says the old saying: “There is sea and sea, there is coming and going! “.

Matilde Proença