The ocean

It’s hard to explain, really.  There are rivers; some are lakes, but Her?  She’s the ocean.  You don’t forget the ocean.
You remember the first time you saw it, wind-swept and beautiful.  The kind of image that settles itself permanently behind your eyes and forever changes the way you view things.  You remember rushing headlong in the surf to be with it, to be part of it, and before you knew it, you were up to your neck and paddling far away from shore. You found yourself amazed at the depth, amazed at how it could be so vast and mysterious yet entirely without deceit.  There was nothing hidden.  Everything you could have ever wanted to know was there below the surface, you only had to dedicate yourself to finding it.

You remember how it could have lasted and how quickly it changed.

You saw dark clouds roll in and the waves grew tall and wild, slamming down onto you one after another.  For a while, you remained happy, these things happen, the sea is not to blame, she is merely reacting to the environment.  The sea can no more control the weather than you can control the sea.  But as the weather grew worse you found yourself faced with a choice.  Do you swim back to the shore and leave all this behind, or do you dive deep below to the calm waters under the surface? You remember the ocean begging you to listen to your heart, to dive, to give yourself wholly to this.  But you couldn’t overcome your mind.

You knew you were terrified, terrified of the unknown and the possibilities and consequences that come with giving of yourself fully and, in an instant, the wonders that awaited you just below the surface were thrust aside by your rational mind’s fear and doubt. You remember clawing and tearing for the shore, rolling out onto the beach and immediately realizing what you did, what you lost. You sat on the beach for a while, just at the water’s edge, wondering if you could try again, if you could simply swim back out and make the right choices this time.  But your heart knows it wouldn’t work,  and this time, you agree.

Finally you remember, and will always remember, walking away in regret while the smell of the salt-sweet air and the sound of waves crashing on a distant shore remind you that the ocean is still there. 
That she is still there.

I guess it’s not actually that hard to explain…

She’s the ocean, and no one forgets the ocean.