Even the Rocks Change

I used to surf at Sunset Cliffs in San Diego. Days at the beach at the Cliffs or Ocean Beach turned into early evenings, walking to the car in the parking lot, or parked along the street, the sun setting over the Pacific.
I remember a day spent there, one spot, all guys I knew, John Belik from Hoover (he lives in Maui now,) Rick G. who lived in OB, Paul, and some other guys. All along the Cliffs, one place was breaking that day, but oddly, it was breaking at five-to-ten minute intervals. We sat on the beach, waiting for the next set, and when we saw it, we paddled out, caught waves for maybe ten minutes, and then the waves quit, and we sat and waited for more. I swear this is true. We were there probably three hours, just our crew. I surfed naked that day. Ugh, better not to think of it. It is not something I will never do again, surfing naked, but that day, thanks to our surf scientist, John Belik, we had this idyllic day along the Cliffs, all to ourselves for awhile.
Two of the guys I surfed with that day are blind. One of them, got beat up one day at the top of the Cliffs after arguing with another surfer. At the time, he had been a regular at the Cliffs for over 20 years. Someone younger and stronger came along, and well, there you go. We are not all that removed from the law of the jungle.
There is only one problem with this scenario. It is that the law of the jungle was written when people didn't live very long. Women died in their 30's, often from complications of childbirth. Men, well, if the wars didn't kill them, something else would--disease, violence, their jobs. During the day at the Cliffs I describe above, we had our own war, Vietnam. I had worked with guys who had been injured in the war. I'd gone to school with them, drove them in my taxi when I drove a taxi. Surely, I went to school with guys who went to Nam and never came back.
Now we have a war, but no draft. And short of finding that 40 or 50 year-old guy who beat up my friend, and doing a dozen-guys-in-their-60's beat down on him, I haven't any plans. Wait, I am meeting some old high school chums in San Diego in August. I do have plans!
Today, while thinking of seeing those folks in San Diego, I thought about running naked about the Cliffs. Not once did I consider doing it again, so Hoover High chums, no worries. But I thought, even the rocks have had some 25 or 30 years to wear away since I last surfed the Cliffs. I bet that little footpad at Abs Beach is worn away. I fell off that once, long ago. I hated it then, and though I got over my fear of heights long ago, I probably would feel no more comfortable there today. But imagine, the freaking rocks have changed. How old does that make a person?

As you all know, I write what I please here. So, I thought about falling off that perch at Abs, actually I slipped down the face of the rocks with my big green surfboard. Recently, I read a book--a very basic book I might add, about quantum theory, and I have decided, because I spent so much time on top of that damn slippery rock, waiting to inch my way down to the beach, I had like a billion more chances to fall down that thing than most of the guys.
Let's make "R" the rock at Abs. "F" stands for me, at the top of the rock, not wanting to go down the slippery thing. We take "JD" for the regular John Doe. So, R x JD x milliseconds spent at the top of the rock, squared... Then take R x F x MS squared. Holy crap! You see what I mean! I couldn't help but fall down the rock! Where was the tunneling effect when I needed it?

Bless you all. Watch out for slippery rocks.