Today I did something that I have wanted to do since the moment I had kids. I took all for of my young’uns to the beach. By myself. And it was awesome. I have always had to have help because my tiny humans needed more eyes and hands than I had available.
I didn’t go to the beach in 2014. Not a day. Between having a baby, a knee injury and subsequently knee surgery, I couldn’t go. And my heart was broken. I love the beach. It is my favorite place in the entire world. It doesn’t matter which beach, as long as there is sun, sand and water.
I watched 3 of my not-so-little kiddos dig in the sand and held the other in my arms. I whispered in Casey’s ear “this is Mommy’s favorite place in the entire earth.” But my heart was saying more than that. My heart was saying “this is Mommy’s favorite place because she is here with her 4 babies.”
Today I dug in the sand, splashed in the water, and chased an itty bitty who decided walking on the beach is his new favorite past time. I was told 3 times, “you have your hands full”, asked four times, “where did the blonde hair come from?”, and I was even asked “Do you have four more at home.” The one that brought tears to my eyes was the lady who told me I was brave to go to the beach by myself with four kids as young as mine. I smiled, said Thank you. My happily ever after was playing out before my eyes in the salt water, sand and sun.
Lizzie described her day in these words, “We played and played and played. We swam and swam and swam. We ate some snacks too but we were at the ocean.” Will would look at me, smile and say “We at the ocean mommy.”
Oh and my kids were angels. Complete angels. We came up with hand signals so that while they were in the water, I wouldn’t have to yell and yell and yell at them. They ate yummy snacks covered in sand and also covered themselves in sand. My girls even went body surfing. My mom taught them that! They only fight they had was that somebody got to get out of the car before the other. The rest of the time they were angels. Oh, they even made sand angels!!
My car is covered in sand, my kids have sun kissed cheeks, and once again my heart is full. I hold on to these days when I am having a bad day for whatever reason and know that one day we will make it back to the beach.
In 2015, I’m going to the beach as much as possible. My kids will know the beach fixes everything. Especially if you wear sunscreen and take snacks!