PRESENCE
S
Coastal Life
Story by MATT LOVE
“It was beautiful in a post card sort of way, but I much prefer mushy
gray and rain and know many others share my preference.”
onny the old husky
and I made a pit stop at
Neahkahnie Beach in
Manzanita on a Friday.
We were cruising south
down the glorious Ore-
gon Coast and wanted
an early start to beat the
unprecedented summer
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It was 7 in the morning, and the
sun lit up the waves, sand and crisp
cloudless blue sky.
It was beautiful in a post card
sort of way, but I much prefer mushy
gray and rain and know many oth-
ers share my preference. If we don’t
get a colossal rain year here on the
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along with most of our moods.
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smoldering remains of a late-night
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the water, and surveyed the scene:
joggers, walkers, romping dogs, a
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lessly, and a few kids here and there
Submitted photo
Be present when you’re on the beach. Take
in the scene. Play with your dog. Dip your
toes in the ocean. Leave your cell phone at
home.
4 | October 1, 2015 | coastweekend.com
running in circles.
I turned around and walked to-
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view: a magazine-cover vacationing
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each other on a driftlog and facing
the ocean.
That’s great, I thought, you got
up early to watch the world’s great-
est ongoing drive-in nature movie.
I looked again and did a double
take. They weren’t looking at the
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phones. I stopped walking. I won-
dered. I was incredulous. I grieved.
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not taking photographs — there’s a
difference. They were absorbed by
something far away. They modeled
a perfectly indifferent human part-
nership.
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came over to me and sat down in the
sand. We stared at the sea, although
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does look for it, though, I can tell.
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away as the greatest force on the
planet rolled in and out a hundred
yards away. They were glued to their
phones while the ocean’s colors, an-
gles, smells, magic, art, poetry, mu-
sic, math, evolution, science, spiri-
tuality and sensuality invited them
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renew and reconsider.
Who was this couple? What were
they watching? What was missing from
their lives? What will become of them?
I was damn near ready to ask
them because I simply could not
fathom their actions. I was also
damn near ready to sneak up from
behind, snatch their phones, sprint
to the ocean, hurl them into waves,
dance a little jig, and then laugh like
a madman.
Go ahead, call the cops! Oh wait,
you don’t have your phones! I de-
stroyed them. I set you free! I healed
you! Call me Dr. Love.
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phone’s destruction to a customer
Photo by Matt Love
On the beach with your cell phone? You better watch out for Matt Love.
service rep in India! Let them give least making your summer vacation
the Manzanita police a description unforgettable. I might have even
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as he’s getting it all down on a note-
pad and then rip the paper into the
Matt Love is the author/editor of 14
garbage as soon as the couple is out
books about Oregon, including “A
of sight. I bet he’ll do a little jig, too.
Nice Piece of Astoria: A Narrative
Attractive couple on the beach
in Manzanita using your phones on Guide” and “The Great Birthright: An
Oregon Novel.” They are available
a driftlog … I was that close (raise
at coastal bookstores and through
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www.nestuccaspitpress.com
mate distance) to healing you. Or at