Regardless of the Calendar, It is Summer – Make it Memorable
By FRANK SAYLES JR.
Tifton Grapevine
On a recent sun-bright, blue-sky day, I found myself at the beach, my feet in the warm, comfortable sand and the gentle surf lapping at the shoreline. Children playfully squealed nearby as they dug tunnels in the wet sand. The exotic, paradisiacal aroma of coconut-scented sunscreenhung in the air.
The familiar scene evoked memories of many past summers and many beaches. I grew up along the coast and have been on beaches ever since I can remember. During the summer after high school, I would often go to the beach early in the morning before my summer job, placing a proper perspective on my day.
Even then, I recalled the carefree days of earlier youth when, without responsibilities, we could spend the entire summer’s day along the dunes; we would play in the surf, catch crabs and make up games to fill the long hot days.
As someone once wrote, “At the beach, life is different. Time doesn’t move hour to hour but mood to moment. We live by the currents, plan by the tides and follow the sun.”
Life slows down at the beach and becomes elemental and eternal. Being near water and its rhythmic waves can be comforting.
One of my best memories is a particular morning at a house on Summerland Key just up the road from Key West. Dawn was breaking over the water, and I arose and sat outside on a small, upper-story deck overlooking the sea as my young family slept safely inside.
In the contented quiet of that early morning, with nothing in sight but the sun’s rays, a few stray birds amid the golden clouds, and the glistening water, I was thankful for my life, for my sleeping wife and for my young son; I was at one with the universe.
The beach and the sea have the power to remind us of what is truly important in the world, for we are all but a speck of sand on the eternal Earth, shifting with the waves of time.
So, relish the moment, be thankful for the day, and enjoy the long and memorable summer ahead.
