I am writing this post from a beach house whilst on vacation. Writing my posts is something I very much enjoy every week, but writing this one from the beach is even better. Everything seems nicer while on vacation. And vacations at the beach are my very favorite. Mark disagrees. He much prefers cooler climates and mountains. We have to take turns getting to choose vacation locations. That’s fair. I would like it better if he just let me choose every year, but this way is technically more fair. Here are my top ten reasons for loving beach vacations:
- The sound of the ocean is one of the most wonderful sounds to me. I love the sound of the water lapping onto the sand. I like the sound of it crashing into rocks or ice, too, but not as much. I can just sit on the beach with my eyes closed and listen to that sound. It comes second only to the sound of children laughing, which is my first favorite sound.
- The air at the beach is one of my favorite smells. No, not the smell 100 yards from the beach, behind Bob’s Seafood Emporium. The smell when you are walking on the beach, with the water around your feet. It smells like sunscreen and fresh air. It smells like anything is possible. It smells like the day will last forever.
- Food at the seashore is delicious. First, even if it’s not, sitting in the sun all day makes you so hungry that anything tastes delicious. But, I love seafood and I am not sure the seafood I eat in Missouri is freshly caught. The seafood at the beach tastes totally different and much better. Plus, I don’t have to shop for it, cook it, or clean up after eating it. Hooray! It’s perfect!
- I do not have to wear dress clothes, do perfect make-up, or do my hair at the beach. I can just shower and do very little prep work and head to the beach. My family says that it still takes me forever to get ready, but the time is reduced. I still have a lot of wrinkle creams to apply. The wrinkles do not stop for a sun day, people! In fact, I have to go a little heavier. Being old is not all fun and games.
- I get to read at the beach. I love to read, but I rarely get to enjoy that hobby. I have so many things to read for my job that I am too tired to read for pleasure when I get home. At the beach, I can sit under an umbrella and just read for hours. It is blissful. I can get totally swept away in a book.
- I love to sit outside and drink my coffee in the morning at the beach. Technically, I could do this at home. I have a very nice covered deck. Unfortunately, the weather conditions in Southeast Missouri make doing this possible only about twice per year. The other 363 days are either too cold, too hot, too humid, too wet, too buggy, or too windy.
- People are just happy at the beach. When I walk to the beach, people smile and say hello. People wave. People in beach chairs next to total strangers strike up conversations and chat all day long. They give you ideas for places to go and restaurants to try.
- I do not have to get up early at the beach. I usually get up around 5:00 AM. Sometimes I have to get up at 4:30 AM, depending on where I am going that day. The beach is available all day long. No appointments necessary. I do not have to call ahead. I do not have to book a time slot. If I am late, no one will be calling me inquiring as to my whereabouts.
- There is no schedule at the beach. You just go when you are ready and leave when you feel like it. If you want to do something for an outing, you can. If not, just stay on the beach. My life is highly scheduled. Sometimes I have to pull over into a parking lot on my way back from one school to Zoom with another school. It’s a lot. I just like to go with the flow once in a while. On some vacations, there are lots of things to see. In order to see it all, you have to have a schedule. I enjoy those, too. But I need the beach sometimes.
- We rent a condo or house and I do not have to clean it or keep it neat and tidy. There are shoes everywhere, towels everywhere, water bottles on every table, and random shopping bags littering the floor. I let it go. At the beach, I can let it go. If we are anywhere else, I feel the need to tidy up. At the beach, I feel that it’s okay. The beach is casual.
My post is short because I have to get back to doing my beach thing, which is basically doing whatever I want, whenever I want. I really could become accustomed to this.
