There is nothing quite like the feeling of sunlight beaming down on you and lifting your spirits after a long and endless dreary winter. It was today that I smiled in the sunshine for the first time in months. I don't care if I looked like a fool. I have been practicing my city-"don't mess with me"-scowl for way too long. It's on days like today that I feel it is time to get back to my roots. Back to my childhood. When a beautiful day like this would be greeted with unabashed joy. It's interesting that my fondest memories always involve time spent outdoors.
My most favorite memory is of the times that my family spent at Rehoboth beach. Each year I would look forward to our trip with such anticipation. It was the highlight of the summer and truly the highlight of the year for me as well. Even till today, I begin looking forward to the summer months as soon as spring comes around and it begins to tease me with its warming light. I hope that I will be able to carry on this summertime tradition for our own children and give them memories of their own that they will cherish for a lifetime. I have included here for your enjoyment a piece that I wrote months ago. I was hoping to capture in words the moment, the memory, and the joy that I felt and still feel when being outside on a beautiful beach.
The Beach
What is it about the beach that always induces happiness in me? In no other place can I feel such a complete state of utter bliss. My heart sings. My lungs breath in. My head spins with giddiness. The waves crash around me, and I feel sand; grainy and warm embracing my feet. Sifting over and between my toes. My arms outstretched wide to receive the warm sun and spray of salty sea. My ears serenaded with sounds of lapping waves. Splashing. Foaming. Sizzling. As the cry of the gull, piquant and pure, pierces the swirling atmosphere. I can feel it now if I close my eyes tight enough. Let my body, my mind, relive every serene moment I’ve ever had on these precious Eastern shores.
Moments spent on the beaches from childhood, always come back to sweeten my oldest memories. Family, friends, siblings, and pets. All are welcome. All are at home. Happy, laughing, eating, and playing. Running to catch the waves. To catch sight of the sea creatures. Catch them in our hands. In our buckets. Run off to our parents with tales of discovery and adventure. To dig the deepest sand pits and mold the tallest sand castles. To build fords for water and watch with trepidation and excitement as waves threaten to wipe out our creations.
How the sun can warm our backs and melt away our daily tensions. How it makes us forget everything else. How the wind and the air, the waves and the sea, the sand and the seashells fill us with wonder, and love for nature, love for life. How it gives us something to look forward to each year as we count down last minutes of our drudgery filled classes and boring endless jobs. It was and it still is our ultimate reward for everything tough and dreary we have ever gone through.
This year, yet again, I look forward to seeing the sea. To being there. I never tire of the ageless delight. To be there right now. In all of the splendor of the vast and endless ocean. How such a tiny, insignificant being such as myself can become the perfect match to such a seemingly infinite creation as the ocean. I feel blessed to have become a part of these beaches. Yes, I am a part. For I know very well that I may leave the sandy shores but you will never be able to take them out of me. The experience is strongly embedded in every memory fiber of my mind and body. I can relive it for my own enjoyment whenever I wish. In fact, I am reliving it right this moment. And I hope you, my dear reader, have relived this moment with me as well.
