Life's A Beach

Before I get to Emmy, the new kitten, who we adopted yesterday and I'll write about tomorrow, a word about the beach, which I've been thinking about for months and finally got to today.

Or, as I confessed to my husband in an only somewhat guilty text message, "I caved...I HAD to get there."

Yes, as you may have guessed, the beach is definitely one of my favorite places. Which is actually kind of odd, since I don't even ever go in the water. Well, unless it's a beach in Grand Cayman, say, or Aruba, or possibly Cozumel, although that can even be kind of iffy.

Today, and most days when I am at home, the beach is Crab Meadow, a relatively small strip of fairly rocky sand in the Town of Huntington on the North Shore of Long Island.

Hmmm...rocky sand, not a water lover, $4.25/gallon gas...I see you asking yourself, "Why go in the first place?"

Sigh. I wish I knew.

Sometimes I just know I HAVE to get there. The weather is perfect. The sky is blue. I've written too many emails, updated too many web pages and schlepped too many kids.

I need to sit down on my tropical chair in the warm sand, grab a sip of my iced coffee, turn on the tunes, open my book and do NOTHING.

I need to smell the sunscreen, the pizza they sell at the counter outside the yummy La Casa restaurant, and the seaweed when the tide is low.

I need to see the mommies with their toddlers just about the same age as Justin and Jordan were when we first started going way back in preschool.

I have to watch the summer campers play volleyball and unpack their lunches, their towels and their frisbees.

And I have to let the answering machine in the office pick up the phone calls. Allow the emails some time to age until I can log in again back at my desk. Put thoughts of dinner on the back burner.

It's hard to totally relax at home. There are chores that need doing and constant reminders of projects and obligations. Not so at the beach.

As a bonus, I am reminded how lucky I am that I can usually steal away for a couple of hours a couple of days a week. It is indeed a great place to be thankful and peaceful and all the things we strive to be but sometimes cannot quite manage. It is why, sometimes, I just have to go.

And then.

I am reminded that supper does have to be taken care of. That Jordan needs to be picked up from her Bio Regents review class. That sweet little Emmy hasn't eaten since this morning. And that I applied SPF 8 two and a half hours ago, and will begin to burn soon unless I put more on or take my leave.

I choose the latter. For as wonderful as this respite always is, what makes it so meaningful is the also incredible life from which I occasionally use it to escape.