Sitting in traffic today, the radio DJ made me smile to hear that “escaping to the beach” ranked as one of the top five most common shared fantasies. (Second to winning the lottery.)

We should all be so lucky to have the time and means to escape to the shore. Or for that matter, wherever your favorite vacation spot is located, to rest and rejuvenate!

I rescued a cocktail napkin musing that my sister wrote last summer after a day we spent together, with our girls, on a Cape Cod bay side beach. A quick jot, throw-away poem to her was gold to me. Beach-find shells can be like that too.

A chipped knobbed whelk (the classic ‘listen to the ocean’ spiral shell) may be tossed aside, whereas an un-assuming, sweet slipper shell could catch your eye. (Such was the case of how my engagement ring was presented so many years ago. Caught my eye indeed!)  Every so often, as we’re mired in the daily tasks of caregiving, it’s nice to remember that memories are our best escape.

sun splashed waves

washing closer to

toes dug deep

in the sand

 

dragging chairs

hermit crabs digging

plum juice dripping

down chins smeared

white with sun block

 

floating

on boogie boards

watching

baby eels swimming

 

azure blue sky

umbrellas

our day

~ Claudia Bauman, July 2016

Happy summer to all of us hard-working family caregivers- past and present!  I love reading all of the posts and comments on this site, whether a quick beach reverie or neighborhood block party . We all benefit from hearing about easy days and the blessed, up-side of caregiving.

Source: Adapted for caregiving.com from Sarahbeth’s website, www.WeAreSharingtheSun.com