making the most of the beach pass...

Glaring at perhaps the ugliest cupcakes I have ever frosted, I finally came up with an idea.  An idea that had her cozying up to me on the picnic bench.  Watching what I was doing, her chin hovered over my shoulder, so I tilted my head and our cheeks brushed.   I couldn't see her face as I took each cupcake out, sunk a colorful safari animal in and set it on the stand... but I could almost feel her smile...

She is an amazing lady, this Mom to two and Gramma to four... and I am so honored to have her as my example to live by {although she won't like that I said that!}  I love to make her smile... and on occasion, cry {but only the good kind of tears!}  I'll never forget the day she told me that I knew what love was all about... we were sitting in the van going around the circle down by the back barn and I had just put her feelings above my own.  Maybe I was twelve, and while I don't recall exactly what I said... I felt as if she had handed me the world with her words.  I suppose, right then and there, she also anchored my life-long people pleasing ways...

For the rest of the evening we played on the beach... swooshing away tiny gnats and digging our toes into the sand.   Laura + Gramma settled in to chat about all things zoo while the rest of the kids dug for coquinas in the surf.  Tina + I chatted with Bob while we watched the sun sink low, and the evening sky made us ooo and ahh...

We have tried to make the most of this beach pass that expires nine months before we thought it would... and if we calculate by the number of visits, we aren't doing half bad.  But if we calculate by memories made and moments together, we are so far ahead of the game...

At the beach, life is different.  Time doesn't move hour to hour but mood to moment. 
We live by the currents, plan by the tides, and follow the sun...

-anonymous