THIS MUST BE THE PLACE.

Sometimes we have a tendancy to take the everyday things in our life for granted.  For me that has always been the beach.  I grew up minutes away from its glistening shores and sadly there has been days when even though my shop is right on the beach I don't even notice the waves crashing on the shore.  I haven't been to the beach since September when at 4:00 pm Kris and I decided on a whim to pack up a few supplies and let Kurt play in the sand before the sun went down.  We watched as our son rolled his little body around feeling the warmth of the hot sand while a perfect breeze ran through his barely there hair.  Once again, I took it for granted.  I realized what a great moment it was for our family, but thought nothing of the simple pleasure of white sand and salt air.

After Sandy ripped apart the east coast and particularly devastated our town, Seaside Heights, I didn't think about the beach.  Owning two businesses completely invested and centered around the beach and boardwalk I was scared for our future and that of my friends and family.  I worry a lot... it's kind of my thing.  I worry for me, I worry for my family, I worry for my friends, I worry for my son... a lot.  Unless everything and everyone in my life is good and happy, I am worrying.  And when everything is going great, I worry that it's too good.  It's a major fault of mine and slowly but surely I am working on it.  Needless to say, after the storm, I have been worrying a lot.  However, not having a place to go to the beach this summer was simply not on my list of worries.

Today, 3 months after the storm, here we are at the beach in sunny florida.  While there are still lots of unknowns for what our summer will hold, things are looking a little a better.  (I mean, we are in florida) It wasn't until today when I nestled my bottom into a beach chair and happily looked on as kurt scooped dirty, coarse, shell like, grey, seaweed encrusted sand into his mouth and rubbed it all over his sticky sunblock lathered chest with wild abandon... that I missed my beach.