Things I Learned at the Beach

There are two kinds of people at the beach... those who bring headphones, and those who bring speakers.

Black sand sticks to your feet more than white sand.

Key Lime Pie tastes best when eaten on the beach, right out of the pie plate.

One should be required to receive a doctor's note before being allowed to decide whether or not they should wear last decade's bikini in public.

Starbucks Via Iced Coffee is worth the money, if you like Starbucks Iced Coffee.

Boys between the ages of 8 and 13 are a different species.

Sunscreen with Zinc Oxide may be more difficult to remove from skin than everything else in the entire world.

Jorts are not, never have been, and never will be synonymous with swim trunks.

Hushpuppies are the Floridian french-fry.

The largest litmus test for good parenting seems to be set up along the entire shoreline of Okaloosa Island, FL.

My mutinous face-freckles cannot be held down, even wearing a 50 SPF.

The Weather Channel is often wrong.

I can run incredibly fast, when trying to get away from crustaceans.

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I also learned that my favorite part about the beach are its contrasts...

The place where the water meets the sand, the crash of power into calm. The place where the sky meets the ocean, our entire horizon hinging on its meeting. The color of the shallows, pressed against the color of the deep... the new color it makes, in its joining.

The way bright colors play against tanned skin. The way a glass of water tastes after being in sunshine versus before it. The quiet of the morning juxtaposed against the activities of the afternoon.

The bigness of God, contrasting with the smallness of me... getting to me, reaching to me, whispering on the wind. Of calm. Of power.

Making my heart like that place, where the ocean meets the sand.