Lather

Today I stood on the shore of the magnificent Pacific Ocean, near the North West tip of the beautiful San Francisco Peninsula, and watched the waves rolling in.  The sun was getting low in the sky and the wind was blowing on shore.  It was cool enough for a jacket but very pleasant.  I love the ocean and I love San Francisco.  It was a very nice evening.

I was planning on posting today about how much I love soap lather so I laughed out loud when the sea rolled in and produced a wide band of yucky sea foam at my feet.  It looks a lot like lather, but for some reason, one is gross and the other is wonderful.

It’s been a few years since I stood on the shore of the ocean.  I think the last time was during a big storm while we were vacationing north of the Bay Area.  The wind had whipped the waves up into angry, frothing piles of water, crashing down, one upon another.  As wave after wave slid off the beach, back into the boiling sea, huge lathery piles of sea foam stayed behind.  The wind hurled and rolled the foam in large chunks across the sand. 

I don’t like foam.  I do like lather. 

I like the clean feeling a good layer of lather produces. 

I like shaving away a beard of lathery whiskers.

I like it when a bar of soap easily bubbles up and covers my hands in thick, white cream. 


And while I stood today, contemplating the beauty of soap lather, and the ocean, a sandy shoreline, and a sky filled with the setting sun, a big wave swept silently up the beach, and deposited a healthy portion of foamy sea water on my new shoes.