sandpipers & bumper cars

This morning, I took a walk to the beach. It was high tide, so no cars were allowed. And the surf was really rough, so there weren't very many people in the water. But the rough waves were making all this foam, and when they broke on shore, if the wind blew just right, the foam would stay on the sand. It looked like someone had put dish soap in the water.

While walking, I was watching the little kids digging in the sand, and I thought back to when I was a kid and had come to Daytona Beach the first time. I don't remember much - I was only 6 or 7. My aunts had come from Canada, so my family drove up from Fort Lauderdale to see them.

The things I remember most vividly are the sandpipers - little tiny birds that ran so fast it looked almost like a cartoon blur of legs. When I see them now, it always takes me back to that time, except now I'm afraid the little birds will trip or break a leg. Amazing how much more neurotic I get with each passing year.

The other things I remember from that first trip to Daytona Beach are the bumper cars. I can see them in my mind, watching them go around and around and crash into one another, but I can't actually remember riding them. What I do remember is the game that my big sister Diane and I made up about riding them - and crashing into old ladies. I don't know that we ever DID crash into any elderly women, but we had fun pretending!

It is funny how I've come back to this place. The beach here is so much more inviting and calming than in South Florida; and the real & perceived memories from my childhood make it that much more of a comfort. It seemed like a fluke that John and I ended up here, but when I'm walking on the beach, it feels like this is where I'm meant to be.

Now, if only I could sort out that job thing.....