When I was a little girl, my family had a summer house on a point. There was a huge white monastery next door, with a high sea wall in front of it. At high tide, the ocean came right up to the wall and slapped against the stone. At the wall's end, the land flattened out into a sandbar. In June, at low tide, you could walk down there and the sandbar would be teeming with horseshoe crabs, heavily armored and prehistoric-looking.

I love the ocean, everything about it enchants me; the smells, the sights, the sounds. I love lying in the sun, surrounded by warm sand. I love sitting in the dunes at night, listening to the waves hit the shore, hidden from view. I love the cool sea breeze that, on sunny days, lifts kites into the air and dots the sky with color; the gulls that call to one another while they glide on eddying currents in the wind; the feel of salt water against my skin; the crash of the waves on my body. I love the starfish with its multitudes of tube feet, the grouchy crab with its bully's claw, the periwinkle with its little blue house on its back, the flashing, silvery minnows. The ocean is many, many things to me; it nourishes my spirit like food nourishes my body. It is, in a way, a mother to us all.

If you looked closely, you could see air bubbles rising up from small holes in the shallow pools, a telltale sign of a hermit crab. I loved walking to the sandbar and seeing all the life. I was fascinated by it. Sometimes, though, I'd stay too long and get caught on one side of the sea wall by the tide. To my child's mind, the ocean could be scary. Getting home became an adventure, but I somehow always made it safely.

Someday, after I have managed to carve out a niche for myself, I shall buy a little house on a low cliff by the sea.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Sometimes I'd, Smell Salt, sea wall, night watching, subject poseidon, salt water, crash waves, smell salt,
Approximate Word count = 910
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)