Footprints in the Sand

We recently took our first family vacation. We went to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina….Well actually Surfside Beach, South Carolina (It is a little more family friendly) but for less geographic explanation, Myrtle Beach.

The drive from Central Illinois to Myrtle Beach is about 16 hours. For this reason alone I could not even focus on how great it would be once we got to the beach because I was so preoccupied thinking about how the boys would do on such a long car ride.  Well, like they do time and time again, they exceed all my expectations and were the best little car riders. We had two melt downs one on the way there and one on the way back, both just because Jimmy was hungry. Honestly, I think they might have been better behaved then mommy. (I was so ready to NOT be in the car any longer)

We arrived around dinner time on Saturday to the condo, which is just a couple blocks from the beach. We decided to get settled into “home” (for the next week) and unpack and get baths and jammies and go to sleep and a normal time so that the next day we could go to the beach!

That morning we woke up and it was like Christmas morning, but not Christmas morning as a kid, Christmas morning as a parent. As great as Christmas morning was as a little kid it is 10 times more exciting now. Now I KNOW what is in those packages, now I KNOW that Santa actually came, and now I GET to witness the joy that I created for my little babes. While I may not have any physical presents under my tree in the morning my Christmas mornings are sooooo much more exciting than when I was little, I am sure the boys don’t understand.

As a parent there are so many things that I want to show my kids, Both my husband and I get giddy with premature excitement over different event and places that we take the boys. So many times the boys have no idea what to expect and so they don’t know to be excited.  The morning that we woke to go to the beach for the first time was one of those mornings. They had never seen the ocean or been to a beach, they didn’t know what to expect.  Jake was ready to get out of the house and while I was getting towels and sunscreen and everything we needed he would calmly say “let’s go to the beach!” But he didn’t truly understand where he was going and what that meant.

As we headed to the beach part of me was slightly nervous, I have built this up in my mind and “what if they hated the beach?” “What if they didn’t like the sand?” “Were they going to be scared of the water?” This could be a total bust.

We had both little boys jabbering away as we walked up the steps to get over the sand dunes to the beach, and as we reached the top of the little boardwalk they could see the ocean, both of them just stared, they stopped talking (and actually stood still.) To watch their little faces look around at the giganticness of the ocean was amazing.  Jake ran through the soft sand to get to the harder sand that had gotten wet during high-tide. Jimmy had a harder time walking through the soft sand and wanted to be carried. As I set Jimmy down next to Jake they ran full speed towards the ocean.  I’m not sure if it is because I am an emotional sap when it come to my boys or what, but I see them run towards the ocean for the first time had me choking back tears.

 To watch my two boys witness the beauty of the water and the sand for the first time made me realize how lucky I am to see the world brand new again, through their eyes. In years past going to the beach meant getting a “good spot” on the beach with my chair and my book, while keeping the sand to a minimum and mostly on my feet. This year the beach meant running to the water’s edge then chasing the waves in and out.  It meant searching for seashells and spotting fish.  I meant building sand castles and burying little boys. It meant not caring that I was coved in sand (I got accustomed to the sand fast because day one as I was sitting building a castle with Jake, when Jimmy picked up a shovel of sand, went behind me, pulled open my swimsuit bottom and decided to unload his shove in my swimsuit….nothing like a little “southern” exfoliation.)

We went to the aquarium where the boys squealed with delight as they were surrounding by sharks, only separated by the glass tunnel that we were in. Vacation was filled with time on the beach followed by baths, and dinner and early bedtimes for little boys worn out from the sun. There were not many “nights on the town” and dinner and drinks. Vacation was not as relaxing as I once remembered, but it was also never as rewarding. 

We will never have enough money to get them everything that they want, but I am thankful to have enough to give them everything they need, and for one week we took them “to the edge of the world” as Jake said. “I’ve never seen the edge of the world before; I hope we can go back!”  …I hope so too!

Jake & Jimmy,

My wish would be to show you from ocean to ocean of our beautiful land. I’d love to fly you to countries that you cannot pronounce and take you to peaks you cannot fathom. Money may not allow that but your daddy and my love for you is bigger than this world.  And whether it is with us or without us I hope you take adventures, I hope you still find landmarks that take your breath away.  Your footprint on this world will be as great as you are but I will never forget the first time I saw your tiny little footprints in the sand.

I love you, thank you for reminding me how beautiful our world is.

-Mommy