Picture Perfect

The weather here has just been perfect lately...mid to upper 60's...the sun shining....so we decided to go to the beach the other day. We went to a new spot that we'd never been to before...we arrived around 5:00pm to see the sun beginning it's descent and the wide expanse of sand flat and compact making it very easy to walk. It was gorgeous! It's funny, I've lived in Oceanside for over 10 years now and I never cease to be amazed by the beauty of the ocean.

I purposely didn't bring my camera on this family excursion. Sometimes I think that I'm so concentrated on getting the perfect "shot" that I'm not really seeing everything....not really participating in the experience. Of course the second I saw how beautiful it was I was wishing I'd brought the camera...to capture the moment. We walked along the beach for awhile, Benjamin running and stopping periodically to look at rocks and shells. He likes to play "monster" now so I had to periodically chase him down the beach making monster sounds. Then he would turn the tables and chase me down the beach making his monster roar.

Eventually Benjamin found a good stick (he finds sticks everywhere we go!) and began to dig around in the sand. We wrote our names in the sand and dug up "treasure" (rocks) to put in our pockets. I swear, Benjamin actually found a rock that has a smiling face etched on the face. Nate and Benjamin decided to bury some "treasure" and mark it with an "X" in order to discover it later. We watched the sun drop slowly in the sky until it was pulled all the way down as if weighted on the bottom.

So here are the "photos" I'm left with from this little adventure. I'm walking down the wide flat beach...the water is so blue it is almost electric. The sand is glistening...a little wet with these little gold flecks glittering up from it. In the distance I see the Oceanside Pier and a light fog is just beginning to roll onto shore. I turn around and see Benjamin laughing, running, trying to catch up with me. Nate is walking behind Benjamin, looking at me and smiling with true joy and love.

On our way back to the car. Benjamin is running down the beach with a stick in his hand. He turns around to make sure I'm following him. The setting sun casts a golden glow on his face. His smile is wide and luminous and he's laughing with pure joy. His jeans are rolled up and the bottoms of his feet are black with wet sand clinging to them.

I can see the images so clearly in my mind but the words seem so inadequate in their description. Even now I wish that I had brought my camera and caught the moment with a photo. I could post it here and say "look...it really happened just the way I told you!" But I do wonder...had I brought the camera would I have noticed the moments at all?