Tea Parties in Boston

23 - Re-inventing

October 16th, 2022, Boston, MA

Logan took in a deep lungful of ocean air, allowing the coolness of the air to overcome him. The sun shone brightly but the air was brisk that morning.

Rory wasn't the only one following Otis' advice that week. It was also the reason Logan had met up with a bunch of strangers in South Boston.

During the introductory round - when they'd stood in a circle ten minutes ago, he hadn't been Logan Huntzberger, he was just Logan whose goal was to try something new. He'd met a dozen others, some who'd been doing this for ages, some new just like him.

Nobody cared what car one had driven up in, what one did for work or whether or not one actually had the professional gear for this. Logan didn't yet - it was his first time. But temperature wise - it was still at least theoretically doable to any self-assured individual without having a chunky swim robe.

He was pretty sure he wouldn't be finding best friends from this group, at least not this quickly - but it was opening up his circle of aquaintances certainly. Little steps were better than none.

The M Street Beach sand crunched under his toes - it was cold. But consciously Logan knew he was soon going to be much colder. A life of blue waters, white or black volcanic beaches at tropical locations or heated infinity pools, cocktails under the sunshade... this was very far from that. The contrast was sharp.

He was listening to an instructor speak about safety, but Logan was only really half listening. This wasn't anything he hadn't read up on in advance. And being the kind of person he was - a risk taker - he only really just wanted to go ahead and do it. He wasn't aiming for world records or marathons.

But soon enough, after discarding his jacket and towel onto a bench, he found himself following the group into the water. The water was 57 degrees as he'd checked it earlier. And while Logan knew this was nothing... he couldn't really recall the last time he'd done something initially so unpleasant on purpose.

But just like he'd forced himself to take his wedding ring off the other day, wanting to push through all the feelings associated with it, having made a decision that he just needed to move on, he did it now too and simply on sheer will he put one foot in front of the other and marched into the water, sinking his whole body in even before he was waist deep just to get it over with.

His body's initial reaction was somewhat expected. He jumped back up from under the water, feeling instantly the relief of the ocean being actually a few degrees warmer than the air. But he didn't end things there, and took a few more steps, actually managing to slide into the water with a lot more ease this time. Some people around him yelped, some squealed, some went in with dignified silence, clearly having done this way more times by now. For a moment it felt as if he was holding his breath while moved in the cold water, but then too, he forced himself to breathe. He'd read about this. He just needed to focus and he did. Inhale, exhale - and repeat.

He did perhaps a dozen breast strokes, not intending to get anywhere far, before emerging.

He could feel how now that his breathing was different, his body tingled - blood rushing to the surface of his body.

He quickly wrapped a towel around him, and said a brief goodbye to some of the people he'd already exchanged a couple of words with before, many of them making their way towards their cars to change. The exits were always rather quick at these things, as they'd been told in the beginning.

It might have been cold. He was still cold. But it had also been exhilarating. It had felt almost ceremonious - symbolizing the new beginning he was sensing - just like many religious ceremonies who used water for their cleansing. In his case there was no one entity or not even several - it was just pushing his body beyond the usual - running and action. It was in part about gratitude too - even if the simplest form of gratitude out of many-many things was being able to sit into his warm car.