The Sea

My parents laughed at me when I told them that I was going to sea-view McDonalds to celebrate a friend's birthday. They associate a McDonalds birthday party with Happy Meals and a manikin of Mr. McDonald and they claim that no one decent goes to Sea-View anymore (I wonder if by decent they meant rich). To be perfectly honest I wasn't too excited about Sea-View McDonalds myself, Sea View is infamous for smelling like the inside of a garbage can and if it were up to me, we wouldn't go anywhere near it, but I'm glad it wasn't up to me.

After having cut the cake, made a myriad of prank calls on behalf of College Board apologizing for incorrect SAT score distribution, bid most of the guests farewell and been sufficiently gawked at by the aunty sitting on  the table next to us, two friends of mine and I sat on a bench outside talking. We talked about all our frustrations as the wind caressed our backs and the waves kissed the shore behind us. I looked to my left and my right and I realized that I sat with two people whom I didn't have to hide anything from. They went through just as many emotional hurdles as I did, they could empathize with what I felt.

I turned around to see the glorious image of the infamous beach that I have tried to avoid as much as possible. The sand was dark and covered with patches of camel shit and the water a murky gray but that didn't bother me. It didn't bother anyone. Not the naked kid who ran through the water, not the pretentious aunty sitting on the table next to us, not the young couple sitting in the sand in front of us nor the group of burqa clad women who were riding a camel. Everyday in Pakistan, we hear about our intolerant attitude. Of how difficult it is for the different sets of religious beliefs, cultural norms, income brackets and racial backgrounds to co-exist in this country but by the sea, all those differences fade away. The murkiness of the water or the smell of the feces, the color of everyone's skin, the price tag of the clothes everyone wore was all irrelevant.

We were all there. Astonished. Everything is better by the sea. At that moment I understood what Stephen Chbosky meant in his book when he wrote: 'And in that moment, I swear we were infinite,' because in that moment, I swear, we were infinite.