Beach Week

A week-long vacation at the beach has ended, and work and daily life have returned full-force—with the school year already underway. Things are suddenly SERIOUS and SCHEDULED and . . .

MORNING TRAFFIC SUCKS.

But back to beach week:

What can I say about our week in North Carolina? I always struggle with these how-I-spent-my-summer-vacation posts, because I feel so inept at articulating a whole week of WOW in a single post.

We have thousands of photos, so that will help. Chris is still uploading. Stay tuned.

Nothing particularly extraordinary took place, I guess, but we enjoyed oodles of happy moments—a vacation-y mixture of fun, wacky, sandy, salty, breezy, relaxing, sun-soaked moments.

I felt myself wanting to store them up, hang onto them, so I could HAVE these moments again on blah days, cold days, stressful days, sick days, rocking in my rocking chair as an old person days. And while I think some cumulative goodness noodled its way into my anxiety-ridden soul (and is there for good), most of the happy moments just had to be sucked in, held for a second, enjoyed, and let go.

Some glitches: Chris got a BAD, BAD ticket in Virginia during the drive down. Although the law and issue is total bull, a lawyer shall be gotten. Yes, it’s that bad.

We’ve never required a lawyer before.

Second, Lorelei got a cold. And she kisses on the lips. So, we all got her cold. Not really something you want to battle on vacation, but it was a minor cold and no big deal. Just a tad inconvenient and gave us a rough day with a crankball Lorelei and much debate as to whether we should take her to urgent care to rule out an ear infection (she had a different cold the previous week, and ear infections in my offspring occur about a week later--hence the debate).

Third, we had to leave. Inevitable as departing is, I always forget how PAINFUL it is for me to leave the North Carolina coast on that final day. Yeah, sure, I’m filled with the warm fuzzies of my Carolina week spent under the sun with my bronze-skinned girls (well, Lorelei is comparably fair), but dang, I really hate leaving. I really want to go for two weeks next year. And yes, Chris and I have already started debating it. (Me: On board. Him: Too much beach.)

How did the kids do? Overall, great. We predicted Lorelei would be our handful, and she proved us right. She’s willful and vocal, but my, she’s a cuddler, too. She had a blast running on the sand, splashing in tidal pools, literally mudwrestling with her sister. She adored doing whatever her big sister was doing, happily coloring with her, side by side, or snuggling up against her to watch Sofia the First.

Charlotte was a dream. We had angel behavior from her all week. She was genuinely helpful and playful with her sister, was a good listener (translation: relatively obedient), she slept well, and she ate well. Best of all? Her sparkly LOVE of the beach. She skip-danced from point to point, created fantastic, muddy, imaginative worlds, raced waves, soaked in tidal pools, collected a billion shells, made sand palaces galore, and kept a wide grin on her face the whole time. She’s pretty shy, but the coastal air wiggled its way into her, too, disarming her. She greeted total strangers left and right with a loud, joyful “HI!” and wave. Fortunately, this being North Carolina, the friendly Southerners found her charming and adorable and always responded. Smilingly.

Charlotte wore herself out each day (and that minor cold probably contributed), so she happily napped. Daily! This allowed, each day between about 12:30 and 2:00, Chris and me to sit on the beach, in beach chairs down by the waves, cold beers in hand, baby monitor close by.

My other favorite part of the day was reading in early evening, when the sunlight had its golden glow. The kids, freshly bathed and sun-tired, would cuddle up together in front of a movie or cartoons, Chris would do his thing, and I’d hang out on the lower deck, over in the uncovered corner—the part that caught the best light. Through the railing pickets, I had a fabulous view of swaying sea grasses, dune sand, and ocean.

And I’d read.

And sometimes, Chris would show up with a cocktail.

The house we rented was right smack on the beach, to the point that high tide came up two or three deck stairs. One night, after Lorelei was in bed, Charlotte and I sat on the bottom stairs and watched the tide come in. The sun was going down, and everything was shadowy except for the ocean, lit up from the west, waves catching the light.

“What do those waves look like to you?” I asked Charlotte.

She snuggled against me. “SPARKLE waves. BIG sparkle waves.”

Oh, my heart.

One starry night, when the tide came up to the deck stairs again, Chris and I went swimming on a lark. Fully clothed. It was amazingly awesome, and no sharks ate us. And did I mention the STARS? I hadn't seen so many in forever.

Yeah, the kids (well, mostly Lorelei) were a lot of work, but it was grand having to stop and REALLY think to remember what day of the week it was.

And as it does every year, our trip cemented my determination to eventually buy a bungalow on the ocean. I will retire on the coast, so long as I live long enough.