Lessons from my son
I have never blogged anything (being the kind of shy person I am). I am trying to change that aspect of myself. My son inadvertently pushed to change that this week; what we did (and what he taught me) was too cute not to share.
Will is seven and quite the adventurer. He has been pestering me for the last month to go to the beach so we could make "sandcastles." I had come up with every excuse in the book (weather, we went on vacation, ankle recovering from its bad sprain back in August) to not go. Playing at the beach in November seemed like a pretty kooky idea to me. It's cold for starters! I grew up on the warm sands of Florida, and later spent fifteen years living in California and its temperate climate. I'm still adjusting to Washington weather.
But darn it if he didn't wear me down. The weather was just overcast this last weekend after a week of rain, and he gave me those puppy dog eyes and asked again. I told him on Sunday if he helped me clean up the family room, we'd pack up the sand toys and go. He cleaned like a madman! When finished, I called to my nine year old daughter to get her shoes on and she asked where we going and I said with a sigh "to the beach." She looked as incredulous as I felt and asked why, and I replied, "to humor your brother."
Beach fronts here in the Puget Sound area mean you are stuck with a lake unless you are willing to drive for a while. With sunset only an hour and a half away, we had to hit the closest one....a beach here in my town on Lake Washington. No surprise...we were the only ones there. It was chilly, but not as bad as I feared as I sat on our giant beach blanket and watched him start digging with the most deliriously happy expression on his face. I couldn't help but smile too. Not long after we got there, the sun dipped below the clouds and made the most beautiful golden glow on the lake and made the skyscrapers on the Seattle skyline on the other side of the lake turn orange. It was almost as if the sun was just waiting for us to get there; it certainly gave us an amazing welcome.
My son plopped down on the blanket and informed me, "This is exactly the RIGHT time of day to make sandcastles, Mommy. The orange sun makes them more magical!" (I bet you didn't know that...I didn't either, but now I do.)
I quickly found out that November is a wonderful time of year to make sandcastles. After a week's worth of rain, the sand is quite wet and sticks together beautifully. The storm debris that washes up on the beach is filled with treasures to decorate them with (that was my daughter's favorite part...she spent most of the time beachcombing). The ducks never pestered us, but stayed close enough eating whatever tidbits ducks like that would wash up in the lapping of the water that they were fun to watch. And the lapping wasn't the magical sound of the surf that soothes my soul in ways nothing else does, but it was still tranquil all the same.
Simply put...the whole scenerio was divine. I have a mental shelf I store "memory trophies" and and this day definitely got a trophy of its own. We stayed and played in the sand until well after sunset and we actually did get cold. Walking back to the truck, Will told me it was the "best afternoon ever" and "can we come back tomorrow?"
My son taught me that I shouldn't dismiss an idea simply because I thought it out of my comfort zone (and so here I write...pushing another comfort zone). And that sandcastles in November are wonderful things.
Did we go back the next day? We certainly did! Only this time, Will made little flags ahead of time using paper that he had drawn designs on, cut out, and taped to popsicle sticks. He made me one too...my special flag had a big red heart "for Mommy." It looked pretty great on my sandcastle. :)