sunday at the beach

I wrote this down Sunday night – mostly so I could remember (our ‘free wi-fi’ is for all purposes ‘mostly non-existent wi-fi) but this morning it appears to be working so I’ll try and put this out there…

This morning started off beautiful and sunny, exactly the way you want to wake up at the beach. We slowly got ourselves up and breakfasted, while the kids pretty much hopped around instead of walking. Elizabeth got us a chair, came back up, got sunscreen, went back down. The boys followed. Finally, we all followed. It was a gorgeous morning, the ocean just barely rolling in. Jonathan couldn’t stay out of it. He loves to go out. Waaaay out. This morning he said to me – thank you so much, Mom, for teaching me how to jump the waves when I was little. He has always loved the waves. Bryan used to carry him out when he was small and Jonathan would always fall asleep, lulled by the waves, either on Bryan’s shoulder or in his own little innertube.

We came in for lunch and I ate with the intensity that only someone who has been lying in the sun all morning can. After we ate, Elizabeth and my mom went down to the pool, and a few minutes later, my dad looked out the window and said, they’re taking the umbrellas down, and we realized it must be raining a little. Most of our stuff was still out by the beach chairs, so we all trooped down to get it. As we came out of the little hallway, I actually gasped a little – somehow the way the sun and the storm cloud were juxtaposed in the sky had made over the ocean into a swirling sheet of silver and black. The sky, too, was streaked with all kinds of grays and blacks and even bright sun. It was amazing – I’m not sure I’ve ever seen the ocean look quite like that – like the back of a fish, like spun silver. I wrapped myself in a towel and Bryan and I sat in the very light spit of a rain and just watched the water change. The storm was all sound and no fury and soon the sea turned translucent gray green and the boys went right back in. It was weird and wonderful.

It never really got worse, but never really cleared off either, and eventually I got cold and came in, took a shower, and put on my pajamas to read. Bryan took the kids shopping with their money and when he got back he said I just saved you a year of your life. All the crap I said no too, honey, you wouldn’t believe. When they brought me the airbrushed 12-inch sand dollar, I said no.

He was making sure I understood this because of what he did say yes to…

Yes. Turtles. And I couldn’t even be too mad because they are the cutest baby turtles you have ever seen. Packed up and sent home with nary an instruction, I can only hope that they live through the week to make it home. Because they really are just that cute.

After dinner Elizabeth and I went on a walk and I was so glad that we did – it was sundown, when everything here, the water, the sand, the sky, seems to turn the same shimmery color, a color I don’t even have a name for because I’ve never seen it anywhere but here. She, as always, spent more time upside down than right side up – always finding some new little treasure in the sand. I told her that as long as I can remember her here, she has always been bent over looking in the sand. I love that she still does.