Not what you expected to hear I bet! Most people that grow up in California either stay there, right on the coast, or at least stay on the western side of the states where they can at least enjoy the mountains. I however have quite a different take, not an unpopular one either, especially after you are able to hear and to think about what you are able to hear and think about what you are about to read and ponder in the following paragraphs about the wonders of the Atlantic Ocean.

Growing up on the west coast was great don't get me wrong but there were certainly things that tainted the beautiful serenity of the Pacific ocean for me that are not associated with the Atlantic ocean in my mind.

Number one thing would be the drugs. Basically in California if you weren't a weirdo you were high on some chemical that made you forget about the high cost of living that you had to deal with and the constant threat of earthquakes ever lurking on the horizon of my anxiety. The mixture of these more than average stressors drove me to cocaine and heroin, which was everywhere you turned in sunny California and especially on the beaches. I'm sickened to think about the dragnet that this was for me and a lot of other folks who wasted their chance at a productive start on the shores of an ocean that was not the Atlantic Ocean.

The other main thing I love about the Atlantic Ocean is the relative lack of surfing, a sport I once loved but now detest. I lost my love to the jaws of a viscous Pacific Ocean shark as she was paddling out on a large wave day you see, and have renounced the sport that took so much from me. Its not that the east coast waters don't have sharks its just that they are colder and less enjoyable to surf in (less waves.)

So overall it isn't a love of the Atlantic Ocean for me so much as it is a hatred for the Pacific Ocean that haunts me with all of the deepest recesses of my life that I want to recover from and forget about. Maybe this way I will be able to fall asleep at night without valium.