Reflections on Staying at the Beach

So, we’ve decided to stay at the beach...forever. Leave the race to the other rodents.

 We’ll construct a home out of sand, driftwood and beach grass, on the side of a dune, like a big beach igloo. One big room for parties and talks and emotions and dreams, with the fire outside lighting the windy night sky.  It will be held together with wet, salty sand and love, and, the occasional sand wall rebuilds.

 We’ll survive on s’mores and the occasional crab, both meals roasted to perfection over our crackling hot bonfire. We’ll trade our lovely handcrafted seashell necklaces and sand dollars to tourists for supplies.  We will stay warm in our sand-gloo thanks to said bonfires and our three bed hogging dogs.

 During the day we’ll hunt clams and chase gulls. We’ll use shell phones to stay connected to each other…and what’s left of the world. We’ll learn every nook and cranny, every tidal pool and every wind wrinkled patch of sand.  We’ll offer sage “beach advice” to any passerby fortunate to sit with us a while.  

 And, at night we will make up our own sea shanties and tales of big ships and even bigger fish. We’ll watch the moons and study the tides, rising and falling like so many micro seasons. We’ll learn the rhythm of the ocean winds and use them as a blanket instead of an opposing force.

 We’ll make friends with the dragonflies and learn to sing the songs of seabirds.  We’ll dance until the beach is filled with our temporary footprints, then refill it with our soft impressions the next day, and the next, and the next.

 It’ll be tough at first, but once we become the only licensed sandcastle contractor at the beach our fortunes will increase. We’ll be sought up and down the coast for our intricate post-modern, farmhouse chic, “mud”-century designs, built to last…until the next tide.

 It’s either this or back to school and work Monday...