The Cure

A walk on the beach can cure just about anything.  Crabbiness, resentment, fatigue, and boredom are no match for the feeling of sand between your toes, or warm surf washing over your feet.  The experience is only improved by having a companion of either the human or canine persuasion along for the walk.

This evening LuAnn popped her laptop shut and announced she needed a break.  I had recently awakened from a nap and was sitting in a stupor in front of my own laptop.  LuAnn asked if I wanted to walk on the beach with her - ABSOLUTELY!  I hooked Harley to his leash, grabbed a couple of poop bags and the key, and off we went.  It was hot and sticky outside but once we passed the tall sand dunes we could feel the cool sea breeze.

One of the many things I love about the beach is I never know what I'll see that day.  Today we saw a wedding being set up with five rows of white chairs wrapped in pale green tulle, an arbor, and a 3-piece string ensemble warming up.  We set off to the south and had walked only a few minutes before Harley took offense to another dog walking toward us, so, in keeping with Victoria Blackwell's (It's Me or the Dog) training, I turned us around and headed in the opposite direction.  (That deprived Harley the fun of going nutso on the end of his leash.)  As we walked we saw sandpipers, a bird that looked like a large sandpiper, a man and woman each carrying a black bucket and picking up shells, a trio of young people taking pictures of each other with the sunset in the background, a dead fish which LuAnn guessed might be a mackerel, a small school of minnows swimming in the shallows, and a few couples reclining on blankets and being affectionate with each other. 

When we returned to our "spot" the wedding was just starting.  We had to wait because the "aisle" was our path between the sand dunes.  First the mothers were escorted between the dunes. The bridesmaids followed, dressed in darling purple cocktail dresses (and barefoot). The string ensemble switched from Pachelbel's Canon in D to the traditional Wedding march and the bride appeared, dressed in a long white gown and veil, and escorted by (I assume) her father.  It was lovely.

While we were waiting we were joined by a family of 3 (dad, mom & daughter); the dad snapped photos of everything while we were waiting. (And next in our family vacation pictures you see a wedding of perfect strangers...?)   A couple of women in bathing suits carrying beach chairs stopped beside us, then a man pulling an ocean kayak on a 3-wheeled contraption came to a halt and watched.  A guy on a motorized bike zipped by just as the bride was arriving at the arbor, so their videographer may have to edit that out.  Of course, that's part of a beach wedding; the beach is public property and the public is ....well...unedited.

The best part?  Whatever grumpiness, resentment, and fatigue I was feeling earlier was totally gone.