Those Little Memories

No "Bits of My Weekend" post today.  The pictures I took of the things I did were lacking.  

On Saturday, however, I took a little trip to the dentist.  My dentist has his own practice right in the beach town five minutes from my home.  

It was 60 degrees on Saturday and driving over the bridge to get there, everyone had there windows down.  It's what we've all be waiting for for months now.  The cold weather {might} be finally passing, bringing on the much wanted spring.  

After my appointment {no cavities- yay!}, I stopped at the beach to snap a few photographs.  It was terribly windy thanks to a storm that hit yesterday, but I couldn't resist just sitting on the quiet beach for about ten minutes.

The thing about this beach in particular is that it holds so many memories for me.  It's the beach that in the summer, I arrive at at 8:45 every morning, drag a lifeguard stand onto, and sit at all day watching the families bring their children to swim.  It's the beach that I met all my friends, my ex-boyfriend, my boss.  It's the beach that has memories of laughter, stories, and long days in the sun.  It's where I spend my entire summer.  It's the place I come home from, smelling like ocean water and having dried sand in between my toes, tan from the hours I spent under the hot sun.

I'm a total beach girl.  It might have to do with the fact I was born one hot day in July, two weeks after my due date.  That summer of 1993, my parents bought their first real house to create their family in.  My grandma and dad spent long hours painting my first bedroom so it would be perfect.  The house was two blocks from the beach, and my mom always tells me that the only way she would get me to stop crying those first few months into the fall was to take me on long walks on the boardwalk.  She says it must have been the sound of the waves and the smell of the ocean that put me to sleep.

Now, 17 years later, the beach is still my favorite place in the world.  That's why I chose to work there last summer, and why I can't wait to spend this summer there.  

The funny thing is, when I think of this beach in particular, I think of the loud laughter, the long days spent listening to kids playing in the surf, and all my the people I love to spend time with.  So when I went there on Saturday, I was almost surprised to find it empty.  I knew in the back of my mind it would be deserted, it was after all a windy day in March.  But it still felt so strange to sit there alone on the beach, with only my thoughts and the sounds of the wind howling to keep me company.

yes, the color of the sand really is the bright color seen in some of the photos when the sun hits it.

And yet, somehow, it still felt completely natural.  Whether there are five hundred kids there or just simply me, the beach is still the one place where I feel completely myself.