I remember reading Emily Dickinson’s poem that begins with, “March is the month of expectation,” when I was young. As a kid it’s easy for that first line to resonate. (Even though I can’t tell you what that poem is actually about anymore…) March was all about expecting Spring break and summer vacation, long days of playing the yard and riding bikes in the neighborhood and building sand castles. In short, freedom!
Last weekend, sitting in Beaufort on the sandbar across from our house, the water as clear as I have ever seen it, I thought of that quote. This, I thought, is what she was expecting all that time. (You can see a piece of seaweed and a seashell in this picture, but I didn’t have my phone at any convenient time throughout the day. Seeing the schools of fish swimming by was super cool. The families of stingrays, not so much. But you didn’t have to worry about a crab getting your toe because they were all scurrying by in plain sight!)
We took lunch over to one of our favorite tiny little islands but didn’t bring any toys or entertainment of any sort. And my little toddler cutie played for hours. Picking up shells and watching birds and sticking his toes cautiously in the water. It was a perfect summer day, the kind you wait for all year long, the kind you start itching for during those March days stuck inside, still in coats, but your soul knowing all the same that Spring is coming. And the flowers are going to bloom and the birds are going to chirp and, pretty soon, you’ll be able to put your toes in the clear, clear water and watch those little crabs scurry away.
I hope you all are having an amazing first week of June and get some time to relax this month. Why, oh why, don’t grown-ups get summer break?
Amen Kristy – glad you had a great time by the beach, wish I was close to one now, but the pool will do for me for now. 🙂