Safe to Go In the Water

Twitter went to the shitter yesterday but I did see one Tweet that featured five clips from the movie ‘Jaws.’

“Never saw it,” my son Jake said, “Heard it was amazing for back then.”

I thought back to the summer of 1975.

“It was absolutely terrifying,” I said. “You have no idea what it felt like to be ten years old and watch a movie about a shark that was eating people. To top it off, we were living in Florida that summer and we went to the beach every day.”

The thing about watching the clips was that the script was great, the acting was decent, and I remembered a couple of the iconic lines.

“We’re going to need a bigger boat.”

A couple of days ago, a former professional football quarterback drowned while swimming in the gulf.

Rip currents were blamed, and I spent a little time thinking about a man, in the prime of his life, drowning.

“I wouldn’t go into the water that whole summer,” I told, Jake.

“I’ve never gone into that water,” he said. “I go swimming, I want to see the bottom.”

“Not to mention the sharks won’t bite you if you’re laying on a beach towel.”

But back to the summer of ‘75.

That movie dominated pop culture. 

We saw it as a family and when the music started that meant Jaws was ready to attack…

…man, that was the stuff of nightmares.

“We should sit down and watch ‘Jaws’ together,” Jake mentioned. “See what life was like 50 years ago.”

“I’m betting it still holds up,” I said.

I can’t wait to watch it.