I'd rather be on a beach somewhere!

I just thought since we are in the most noted depressive week of the winter, it would be appropriate to think about beaches today! 

I look out my office window and I see the clouds rolling in to dump another sheet of ice followed by a blanket of snow on our small town today.  BLAH!  and again I say BLAH!!  I know I live here because this is where the wheels fell off the covered wagon when my great-great-great grandparents were passing through.  My great-great grandparents hooked up with some Cherokee and Choctaw indians along the way and so began our twisted roots of being called Okies for the rest of our days.  I know there are lots and lots of more wonderful places to live but, this is home.  This is where my family is.  This is where my child was born and I'm sure this is where I will die and be buried someday.  Right in the old family plot at Memorial Gardens, USA.

WOW!  That was a bit off the subject!  We were talking about beaches! So let's redirect our thinking!  I have seen a few beaches in my life.  99% of them are on domestic soil and I have only stepped on one foreign beach in my life.  I have been on all coasts of the USA and they are all SOOO different! 

Let's start with Malibu Beach and Zuma Beach, California.  Beautiful but not my cup of tea.  The brown water washing up on the shore accompanied by a thick haze in the air isn't my thing.  Miami South Beach we visited when I was really young.  My Aunt and Uncle lived in Hollywood, FL.  I remember it being beautiful but I wouldn't be back there until I was an adult.  By then it would become a world of silicone people and over the top wealth and sin. 

Then there was Galveston Beach.  We lived close by when I was 12 years old.  UGLY DIRTY SMELLY....that's all I have to say about that!  Then there was Panama Beach, FL.  I had never heard of Panama City until I lived in Nashville, TN.  That seemed to be a favorite spot for all the young, hip, urbanites to travel to for their post college-year escapes and mingle with the youngsters who were still in college.  Good times but  my daughter will not be allowed to go there. EVER!  I saw things that I hadn't dreamed existed while there with my roomate.  Scary!

I traveled abroad on a cruise to the Bahamas next.  I cannot describe the color of the water because it is indescribable!  It was turquoise, and deep blue, and green, and gold, and  amazing all at the same time!  The tropical atmosphere was to die for!  Next came the Jersey Shore.  I had never seen anything so beautiful in all my life!  I was sooo shocked!  I traveled from Atlantic City down to Cape May.  It was February and I had never seen snow on a beach before.  It was GORGEOUS!  I hope to go back there someday for sure!  This time it will be Summer!  Then came South Padre Island.  I was so disappointed.  Being from Oklahoma, this is where everyone went!  That was THE spring break destination!  What a let down........ Then was St. Augustine Beach in Florida.  WOW!!!  Gorgeous conch beach with blue green waters!  And the town of St. Augustine is phenominal!  I highly recommend this place for a family-friendly vacation spot!

Finally, this past summer, I traveled with a friend to Tampa, FL to attend a business school.  While we were there, we experienced what that coastline had to offer.  I could not believe what my feet were standing on when I stepped on the white powder sands of Clearwater Beach!  I was in love!  It was right before sunset, which if you have never witnessed a sunset at Pier 51, you haven't lived yet!  I have never seen anything so beautiful except the day my daughter was born.  The sunset brought tears to my eyes.  Just to look at that and not realize that God is alive and around us is a sin!  Ever since that trip, I have been longing to return and this time experience it with my family!  It takes your breath away!  This will be our first trip of the summer, God willing.  I want to take my parents with me too!  My dad retires (for the second and final time) this summer and I think this is a great way to kick off his retirement years!

I am approaching a point in my life where my husband and I are going to be empty nesters in three years.  What a scary and exciting reality.  I am looking forward to being able to travel to many more beaches of the world in years to come.  We are planning a trip to Turks and Caicos soon.  I want to travel to Greece to experience their shores.  I want to see the South Pacific where my grandfather fought in World War II and the beaches of New Zealand where he boarded an air cargo plane to head back to San Francisco to get home to Oklahoma to marry my grandmother.  I want to see Tokyo where my good friend Shana lived for 12 years after we got out of college.  I want to see Belize and the beaches of Honduras.  I want to visit the Dominican Republic where our favorite doctor in the world is from and where the college Biblioteca is named after him.  I want to see.....I want to see....I want to see......

As I finish this up...the storm is moving in.  Another gray, Winter day but the Summer will be here soon!