Today I saw a friend’s picture of my favorite beach. I smiled and thought, wow, that is beautiful!!
It looked like the photo was taken just after the sun had set over the ocean. It is a beautiful photo! And, it made me immediately think of special times I have had at this magical location with my friends and family.
I suppose we all have places that we love to go to and visit — whether monthly, yearly, or just when we can. The place can be somewhere special you went as a child or somewhere you have visited as an adult. In my case, that is the same place! And, what a blessing it is.
The beach I am talking about is pictured in the masthead of my blog. I have been going there as long as I can remember. Actually the first time, I believe, was when I was less than a year old. My mother tells me one time she put me down on the sand, and I crawled with all I had towards that ocean!
I remember fun times with my grandparents, parents and siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins. There would be so many of us at the tiny cottage, that the kids would have to sleep in sleeping bags along the floor and my grandparents would sleep in their camper parked across the street.
I also remember having a fire on the beach – when they allowed the fire pits. We would cook dinner and then make s’mores and sing songs around the camp fire.
When we returned to the house, my aunt would play the piano and everyone would gather around the piano to sing even more songs. To this day, when I hear some of these songs, I tear up thinking of my grandpa and grandma and all of us joining together to enjoy show tunes, songs our family made up, and some hymns. And, we’d always end with “Brigadoon.”
In recent years, we have still enjoyed going. But it is different. Most of my cousins now have children and we had the pleasure one year to all be together with our kids and aunts and uncles. It was still magical. We still did our singing (without the piano). But it was bittersweet not having our grandparents there.
My husband and I have been there and have taken our son. He enjoys time with his grandparents (my mom and dad) and his cousins and aunts and uncles. He has his own things he enjoys — bike rides, playing in the sand, and getting his feet wet. I like that the next generation also enjoys this magical place.
And, now, we enjoy time with our neighbors who live at the beach all year. They have truly added to the fun and magic of the place. All of them add a new layer to our time while we are there and I so look forward to catching up with them and seeing what they have been up. They are a blast to spend time with.
It was one of these friends who took this picture that I saw. Thanks to him!
I wonder if we can go again this summer and enjoy that magic once again. I do hope that will be possible.
I Still Wonder... 