“...but I want to spend the whole trip out here, with the ocean replenishing her treasures like an old shopkeeper as I sleep alongside her in the sand. ”

“Here was my epicness, because despite how things turned out, I wouldn't be anywhere else. I wouldn't want anyone else to take care of her. To watch her sleep.”

“...like a grain of sand that gets into an oyster's shell. What if the grain doesn't want to become a pearl? Is it ever asked to climb out quietly and take up its old position as a bit of ocean floor?”

“I liked her…I really liked her.I wanted to protect her.I approached her in a gentle, playful manner, because she's so precious and I wanted to hold her in my arms because she's so carefree.She was my treasure.”

“Of course I want to bed her. A man would have to be dead and buried not to. No, I want to talk to her. I like talking to her. Dammit, the bedding part is natural. Wanting to spend time with her outside the bedchamber is not.”

“I used to love the ocean.Everything about her.Her coral reefs, her white caps, her roaring waves, the rocks they lap, her pirate legends and mermaid tails,Treasures lost and treasures held...And ALLOf her fishIn the sea.Yes, I used to love the ocean,Everything about her.The way she would sing me to sleep as I lay in my bedthen wake me with a forceThat I soon came to dread.Her fables, her lies, her misleading eyes,I'd drain her dryIf I cared enough to.I used to love the ocean,Everything about her.Her coral reefs, her white caps, her roaring waves, the rocks they lap, her pirate legends and mermaid tails, treasures lost and treasures held.And ALLOf her fishIn the sea.Well, if you've ever tried navigating your sailboat through her stormy seas, you would realize that her white capsare your enemies. If you've ever tried swimming ashore when your leg gets a cramp and you just had a huge meal of In-n-Out burgers that's weighing you down, and her roaring waves are knocking the wind out of you, filling your lungs with water as you flail your arms, trying to get someone's attention, but yourfriendsjustwaveback at you?And if you've ever grown up with dreams in your head about life, and how one of these days you would pirate your own ship and have your own crew and that all of the mermaidswould loveonlyyou?Well, you would realize...Like I eventually realized...That all the good things about her?All the beautiful?It's not real.It's fake.So you keep your ocean,I'll take the Lake.”