After the past two weeks I've had, we have finally received a mental and physical cleansing today. It is absolutely amazing how the littlest things that we take for granted make the biggest impacts on our lives if we just slow down enough to notice.
We all decided to pack a lunch and head to the beach today for some much needed R & R. As soon as we were about to leave, a thunderstorm rolled in. The sky was black and impending booms were heard rapidly getting closer and closer.
Everything went back in the fridge. "Well.... at least lunch was already made.", I thought as I slid back into my computer chair to mildew for a few minutes while checking emails and tweets.
Then not long after, I had the urge to go back outside. I looked up and the sky was blue as the storm had decided to take a sudden curve to the northeast and blow it's hard rains and flashes of lightening in a direction other than ours.
Julian and my husband had settled in for a long game on the Xbox as I began packing the car under their noses. It's amazing what they DO NOT notice when on that thing.
When I yelled "Time to go!", I was received with five voices yelling "Where!" "To the beach, where else!", I replied (no yelled), so that every member in the various locations in the house could hear.
Flash Gordon has nothing on these kids in the form of speed in which they can run to the car for a day at the beach. After spinning around a few times as my family, one by one, flew by me to the car, we were off!
We decided to drive the road all the way to the end where Ft. Pickens is located on a secluded peninsula of Pensacola Beach. What a perfect choice my husband had made because it was just one of the greatest locations I have been of late.
There were NO tourist whatsoever!
We parked next to a wall that ran along the edge of the beach, climbed over it with all our food, a cabana, snorkel gear, and kids, and proceeded to plop down on a stretch of white sugary beach that attached itself to a small rocky reef.
The water was emerald green and calm; just perfect for small kids without worrying that one wave too big will be the one that causes them to down about a gallon of salt water. We took in some snorkeling next to the divers in the area to notice small crustaceans and fish living near the rocks.
We played for hours, took long walks, ate our food among seagulls and an out of place hawk, watched egrets fish for lunch, and played several rounds of water football and frisbee.
It was perfect!
It was amazing how being "in the moment" and staying there without allowing the mind to wander, just made all of the last two weeks of migraines, lost keys/found keys, lost bird, and screwed up birthday just completely melt as if it never happened. The girls and I were in the water jumping up and down chanting "Healing the crap of life!", while laughing and snorting the whole time.
The whole moment was like being given a do-over in life. Yeah... that's it - a do-over!
So I sit here watching the storm come back that danced it's way around us earlier. It seemed to have left us this morning to allow us to regroup as a family and become peaceful human beings again.
I feel compelled to stand in the backyard and dance in the rain when it comes and say, "Thank You" to Mother Nature for noticing how much this family needed her timely break.
It was just a little trip to the beach, a little moment in time, but it meant volumes as it healed our souls.
