Unpredictable

So I was walking along the beach with my late brother-in-law's fiancee, who has been mourning his sudden death since February. The ocean was calm, much calmer than it's been for the past week, and we were enjoying the sun and the gentle tide that only occasionally came up as far as around our feet, softening the sand and cooling our toes. She was talking about her fear of swimming in the ocean, there having been a rash of riptides and much talk of near misses and sudden rescues.

And I said something like, "yeah, the thing about the ocean is that it's so unpredictable."

At which moment, a wave jumped up over us, seemingly out of nowhere, to soak our clothes, the case I was carrying for my phone, the skirt I had wrapped over my shoulders.

Okay, God. I get the message. Unpredictable, indeed.