Ahhh, Sweet Relaxation

I wish, with all my heart, that I could figure out a way to bottle up that lolling about feeling that the beach evokes and bring it home with me. I think it would solve all my troubles. Imagine, for instance, being in the midst of a stressful day, one that started with a semi popping a big rock onto your windshield and putting a star the size of Dallas right in your line of vision, and ending with the dog vomiting on your new backpack (that special lavender one you've been pining over for months and that finally went on sale at REI). Okay, so are you with me here? Got that little knot of tension developing right below the ribcage even though the aforementioned events didn't really happen to you (hopefully)? Good.

Now imagine that, after storming through your house in a rage, you remember that little bottle of sunshiney goodness that you stored under the bathroom sink after your last trip to the beach. Plucking it out, you pull off the top and breathe in a deep whiff of...

Waves gently butting against the shore...

Brown pelicans flying overhead...

Sunset over the water...

And beautiful sand castles...

(All right, I'll be the first to admit that I had nothing to do with that sand castle picture. I hijacked it from the internet because I thought it would be funny, just like I hijacked all the other pictures up there because I was too lazy to take any myself. I'm sorry, but there it is.)

Wouldn't that just loosen the tension by ten to the gazillion and remind you that sitting on the porch with a cold one is sooooo much more important that storming about the house, throwing your mother's china at the TV because you simply cannot take it if you hear our "leader" pronounce our country's name as '"Murca" one more time?? I think so.

As you may have gathered, the trip was wonderful. I achieved modified versions of all my goals (1. only drank a little with the uncles and maintained control throughout their attempts to drag me into their "rah-rah-george-w-can-do-no-wrong" political discussions; 2. did handstands in the ocean, although sadly I couldn't even meet last year's time; and, 3. fed Zak strawberry jello until he almost yorked. He wasn't allowed to use utensils, so it was a close one.). It was fabulous. By the end of the trip it was obvious that time had somehow collapsed on itself, because six days of beachside pleasure had whisked by so fast that I was sure I'd been there no more than three. I was not ready to go, although the pain of departure was lightened somewhat by the knowledge that we will return next summer.

And as hard as it was to leave, I'm glad to be back here with you. There's something comforting about knowing that your friends are back home and your own abode is waiting for you, with everything safe and sound within. So I'm welcoming myself home with great anticipation of seeing you all soon and hearing what you've been up to!