Born and raised a Florida sunshine girl I was used to and loved the sun. My name itself gave away who I was supposed to be. I loved everything that the sun had to offer, but most of all I loved the warmth I received just knowing the sun was shining when I stepped out my front door.
I tried to convince my parents growing up that I was going to be a lifeguard at the beach for the rest of my life. I could have the best of all the worlds wrapped into one. But taking that job on as a teenager and all through college, I realized that I would never be happy with the salary of that job. I know people always say you have to have a passion for your job, and I believe that but at some point there has to be a meet in the middle career choice, which is why I chose to study journalism and photography. I planned on being one of those journalists that traveled the world, visiting every beach there was known to mankind and relaxing on each one of them, basking in the glory of the sunshine and getting paid for it. I was going to live the dream, my dream. I was going to marry my dream guy, move into the dream house along the beach and enjoy dinner on the back patio with him every night. Eventually have children and raise them to love the beach even more than I ever did.
The pieces of my life started to fall together the moment I applied for my first internship. I had moved from beautiful sunny Florida, to the sweet constant summertime of California. Getting that job looked amazing on my resume. Having the opportunity to work for a branch of the travel channel was exactly what I needed. I worked my tail off for a year before they had called in hundreds of recent college graduates for closed auditions. So, there I was, someone who had worked or the company for over a year, whereas most didn’t even know the layout of the building.
They were looking for someone to do small segments from different places around the world. It may not have been exactly the job I would have hoped for, but I wanted that job more than my life in itself. I wanted to prove that I could do the job. I even left that audition thinking to myself that I had it in the bag. After all I was the one that had been working there, seeing the day to day process.
I didn’t get the job.
I have never believed that things happen for a reason. I believed that hard work and determination wins in the end. And nearing the end of my internship I decided it was time to move on. I had two separate offers that would ensure that I would get the exposure I needed. I had purchased my dream home, even though it cost more than I should have paid for it. I was happy when I went home at night and could hear the waves crashing right outside of my window.
In my last week, they did however did offer me a job. Not the job I had auditioned for, my very own show entitled “Beaches.” The title alone had me antsy. I knew that I would be on the beach, somewhere, seeing the gorgeous water over the sunrise and the sunset day after day.
It was the dream job. It was everything that was meant to be.
Of course, I took the job. Signed a cushy five year contract with the network and prepared to live my dream.
But living a dream comes with consequences.
I was on a different beach, in a different country every week. I was in my happy place. My perfectly manicured toes were in the most gorgeous white sand I had ever seen, looking out over the water that was the perfect shade of turquoise blue, the sun was shining brightly and I had who I thought was soon going to be my husband on the phone.
In a three minute phone conversation starting with “I miss you”, ended a three year relationship, with the words, “I don’t love you anymore.” He wasn’t happy anymore, he claimed. He couldn’t listen to the god-awful sound of the waves crashing against the sand anymore. And he was ready to move on.
His honest words hurt but they were honest, and I respected that. The ocean, the sun, the sand and my heavy heart managed to pick up the pieces and barreled through the rest of my work schedule, enjoying places I had never been before, places I may never see again…
Even those days seem like they were from another life. I watch the screen in this audio visual room, scene after scene I see the beauty in the places I had been to in such a short time. I missed the water, I missed the sand, but most of all I missed the sunshine. I missed that overwhelming warmth I would feel just knowing the sun was shining.
I glanced up at the small window, he rain pouring down consistently nonstop was annoying. I don’t care what anyone says, the sound of rain hitting the pavement was not therapeutic. The save of water crashing together, barreling to the shore was all the therapeutic sounds I needed to hear.
Give me eighty-eight degrees and not a cloud in the sky and I am a happy girl.
The average high of seventy-five degree weather of Seattle didn’t make me content, let alone happy. Summers were filled with sand, the ocean, sunshine, and warm air. But that wasn’t my reality anymore.
My cushy five year contract turned into a nightmare. The network reworked their entire focus. Which has resulted to me here, in this dreary place, having the worst day possible.
The day started with a leaking roof in my apartment, ruining nearly every piece of clothing I owned. The super telling me that he didn’t have the time to deal with it and to place a bucket under the dripping and hope it doesn’t get worse. He wasn’t worry, but I sure was. My umbrella decided to take a life of its own and break in the middle of a downpour. My hair had become a disaster area because of it. The office, oh the office is full of people with bigger egos than they need to be.
After a very long eight hours, I walked back out into the pouring rain, no umbrella in hand and froze in my steps as I look over at my perfect little BMW with a flat tire.
A flat fucking tire.
I didn’t know how to change a tire.
“What else could go wrong?” I mumbled to myself.
I turned and headed towards the train station. I would go home, and ignore everything that has gone wrong today and deal with the nonstop failure of my life tomorrow.
In a full on sprint, I found myself missing the train by two seconds. The door was closing as I approached. “Fuck...” I blurted.
A sympathetic voice began to speak, “You miss your train?”
I turned around to see this incredible gorgeous man, standing in front of me, placing an umbrella over my head, shielding me from the rain. “It’s been a day…” I said, at a loss of words. His piercing blue eyes stared directly into mine. He had this way of pulling all my attention in and focusing on his eyes, trailing down the bridge of his nose and the movement of his lips as he spoke.
“Where you headed?” He asked.
“Hopefully home, if I make it there.” I joked.
“That bad, huh?”
“Bad would be considered a good day today.”
“I’m Josh.” He reached out his hand to shake with hers,
Coyly she reached her hand out and shook his, “Elaina.”
We both sat on the bench, waiting patiently for the next train. We struck up a conversation about life and happiness. It’s funny how a complete stranger could have so much in common with you and you ignore these moments. Who wants to talk to a stranger on a day like today?
As the train pulled into the station, we followed each other on and sat down, continuing our conversation like we had known each other for years. Instead of heading home, I joined him for dinner at a café overlooking the Seattle pier.
I stepped out of the train and into a puddle of dirty rain water, ruining a gorgeous pair of shoes.
“You should invest in some rain boots…” he laughed.
I just smiled at him. I needed that banter to keep me moving after this day.
A cup of well brewed coffee and a not so great croissant, we got to know the great and the bad of each others lives.
“Where have I seen you before?” He asked staring at me, circling his finger around the glass of his cup.
“I don’t know… I don’t think I have ever met you before.” I fidgeted with my fork.
His eyes enlarged, a smile plastered across his face. “You’re Elaina, from Beaches!” He finally figured out where he had seen her face before.
“The dream job didn’t turn out to be much of a dream time slot…” I chuckled. “How on earth have you seen that? It airs at like 3am.”
“Insomniac at its best right here.” He pointed at himself.
“Well, I’m glad someone has seen the show.”
“That beach on the St. Barts episode… that one with the…”
I interrupted him knowing exactly which beach he was talking about. “The one with the mountain in the backdrop… breathtaking.”
We both smiled at the same thought.
He reached out and placed his hand over mine. “I hope this day doesn’t leave a bitter taste in your mouth. You get used to the rain after a while. You will love Seattle.”
“I never believed that things happened for reason, but how this turned out, removed all my doubts. So believe that for you, I’d do it all over again.”
A day of horrible events led me to the first day of my life. A life that I had to get used to, a life that seemed to have so much to look forward to, with him by my side. I learned that life serves us challenges, and sometimes you need someone to help you see the brighter side of the dark side.
