Another's Day at the Beach

Super storm Sandy has left a lot of us with a lot of time on our hands.  Cancellations, dreary, rainy days.  Time to do some organizing.  Time to do some thinking.  By the grace of God, we were spared and the storm that was looking right at us took a turn and missed her target.  By the time she had ravaged the New Jersey shore and the Isle of Manhattan, she grew tired and gave up, leaving us with only remnants to remind us of her power.

We took a ride to a favorite beach yesterday afternoon.  It was another grey, moist day and very few others were on the road.  A few other stragglers, curious to see the new high tide line created by the storm, ventured out and shared conversation in the parking lot.  A huge truck pulled up and out jumped three enthusiastic laborers from the Asplundth Company.

"Is this the ocean" shouted the driver?

 "No, it's a lake....." responded one of the sarcastic bystanders.

  "No, I mean, is it really the ocean, the Atlantic Ocean?  We're from Tennessee and we've been looking for it."

Out came the cameras as the three burly men approached the fish pier and then onto the sandy beach.  One of them walked the shore, obviously looking for seashells.  The three of them stood out in their yellow company jackets.  Three honest young men who were sent here to Cape Cod by their company to assist in what was supposed to be a massive clean up but alas, there were very few broken trees to cut down, hardly any wires to be freed of limbs.  So, they too had time on their hands and were able to fulfill a dream, perhaps, of a day at the ocean.

My children were raised in close proximity to that very same beach.  It would be impossible for me to guess how many hours we, as a family, have spent there.  Our granddaughters have already logged on more time than the average kid spends at the beach each summer and my husband and I won't apologize for the hours we have spent there, in season and out of season.

"I guess you folks are used to this kind of thing"

Did he mean the seashore, did he mean storms and their aftermath?  Or did he mean perhaps, watching the wonder, the joy of three grown men romping like children on a beach on the coast of Nantucket Sound?

I'll never get used to sights such as that.  I'll never take the seashore for granted or the fact that we have been spared from the devastation of a natural disaster.  I'll never stop collecting seashells and I hope that I will always remember that not everyone has seen the ocean.