Metaphor n. [MET uh for] a figure of speech comprised of a word or phrase that transfers its meaning to another, use as a means of illustration. Analogy, likening, image, simile, trope, symbol.

Roget’s Super Thesaurus

By the Sea
I have taken a plunge after nine years of employment and left my position as a massage therapist on staff at the Hotel Del Coronado to skinny dip in the sea of Words. In the past I have stuck in a toe, played chicken with the incoming tide on the beach and walked in up to my knees, but now I am declaring myself a swimmer ready to immerse in the lap of the letters, wave of the words and surf of the sentences. I chose the image of the sea to describe my leaving because I am also a teacher whose subject matter is the therapeutic value of water. And because the “Grand Old Lady” herself, the Hotel Del Coronado, sits on an island between the San Diego Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The website http://www.ecoronado.com describes Coronado as: “A small, tree-lined beach haven. Coronado is about a mile from downtown San Diego and is linked to the city by the Coronado-San Diego Bridge. Crown City, as it is called (Coronado means "crowned one" in Spanish), regards itself as a friendly, small town of wide leafy streets lined with Victorian homes and Californian bungalows.”

Each day on my drive to and from work I crossed the Bay Bridge. On the way toward Coronado, I watched the sparkle of the sun upon the water, boats bobbing in the marina and the Hotel Del off in the distance, with her majestic red circular roofs sitting like a magic castle on the edge of the sea. Returning, my view was of downtown San Diego, its grid like streets, mass of skyscrapers, squat warehouses, the Convention Center with its sail-inspired roof and Petco Ball Park. The Laguna Mountains appeared as the background to this landscape picture. On a fog lifted afternoon, range after range stood like pointed green and brown tempera painted peaks on a kindergartener’s easeled picture.

But now I choose instead of crossing over the water, to dive in. I am in search of my metaphor, the one to describe the passages in my life. Today it is the Sea. The wide expanse of the churning, life filled waters that hold stories, secrets and a history of our planet. After many years of steady employment on the safety of the beach, I shed my clothes to dog-paddle in the chill of the waters of words. Will I sink or swim?