Sandy Memories & Tides of Change

Today is the first day of fall and I managed to go to the beach, for the first time this year, a couple days ago.

I have the luxury of living close to the beach, it’s about 30 minutes away or so. But lately, each year I can count the times I’ve been down there on one hand.

It’s pathetic, I know.

The beach is one of my favorite places to go and has a lot of childhood memories for me.

When my parents used to take me and my sister to the beach, we would get there around 4-5pm while the sun was still shining, but making it’s way down the sky.

The two of us and my dad would throw around the frisbee and the football, diving into the sand to make spectacular catches.

I was determined to build an intricate sandcastle with a moat.

And I remember freaking out whenever a piece of seaweed got tangled around my foot.

We also would eat dinner, stopping by a place like Subway to pick up food, and eat it while sitting in the beach chair, watching other families play in the sand and the water.

The best part was when everyone around us would start to pack up and we would have more space to play.

When it got too dark to play in the sand or the water, we would cuddle up in our sweatshirts and gaze up at the stars.

That was the real treat. Sometimes, if we were lucky, we would catch a shooting star burning its way across the sky.

Back then, the beach was a fun way to spend the afternoon and the evening, feeling the sand between our toes and looking for seashells.

Now, it serves as a reminder that everything that happens to me is insignificant in this vast universe.

There’s just something about knowing that you are right at the edge of a continent, with the waves creeping up to your toes, connecting you to an expansive ocean reaching across the whole world, that makes you feel so small.

For some, that might be a scary feeling. But for me, it’s a relief. It helps me take a step back from the smaller things I’m focused on and it reminds me that all of this won’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

Just like the tide, things change.