September 16; Day Sixteen

I woke up this morning around 6:40 a.m. Rolled over and went back to sleep. This vacation is about no stress. It’s about sleeping in when needed. So, sleep in I did. I didn’t wake back up until 8ish.

Today was a beach day. No schedule, no rush, no agenda other than hanging out at the beach. I did make an effort for us to eat, though. We haven’t been on a schedule which means we haven’t eaten regularly. This doesn’t work well for me.

We made it over to the beach around noon. The day was cloudy and we could see it raining all around us, but none on us. The girls went out in the water; I sat in my chair to read. That was interrupted quite often due to the fact that this is evidently love bug season. If memory serves from when I lived down here a long time ago, this will last a couple of weeks. Little black bugs that look very similar to lightening bugs. They are called love bugs because, well, they really “love” each other. They connect at their backsides and are stuck for a while. I think it is until the male dies. There are swarms of them. I had planned on taking a little nap while at the beach, but I had visions of waking up with these little buggers in my mouth, nose, and all over my face. So, I got up and went in the water with Jessica and Liz.

We stayed for a couple of hours, then went back to the condo to eat and reapply sunscreen. Arriving back at the beach, Liz wanted to try out a boogie board; Jessica went walking to collect more sea shells. I watched Liz. Soon, Jessica came back with a starfish she found on the beach. She took it out to Liz and they let it go back in the water.

Sometime later, Jessica and Liz came inland, and we all three walked for over an hour up the beach. We found a couple more starfish and put them back in the water; Liz saw a baby stingray; I found a large shark tooth.

At one point, I just stood there, looking all around. Listening to the thunderous sound of the waves crashing, the water rushing around my feet. All of my senses engaged in the beauty surrounding me. There was an exquisite aching inside me, trying to absorb every color, every scent, every sound. A longing to be a part of this always.

We came back to the condo, pleasantly exhausted, sand everywhere. Cleaned up, had dinner, and watched Captain America 2.

And so ends another wonderful day.