pack the car, lunch, kids
towels, toys, off to the beach
tide took beach away
We went out to the beach but having lived along the coast now for a couple of years, we checked the tide chart.
Bad news.
High tide was predicted for 2pm.
We left about 10 o’ clock and figured we could get a place easily on the great expanse of beach and it would take hours at least until the tide took the beach away.
That worked, so far as it worked.
We got a nice spot but with strong on shore breeze and the upcoming June Solstice, we got a reminder of why all the tide charts say … the information is only a predicition.
By noon the water was up to our beach chairs and we moved back.
We moved back again.
As with all really high tides, the water was filled with reeds from the salt marshes behind the barrier island.
It wasn’t just the water that was moving in the with the tide, it was foot high wall of these reeds.
With an hour and a half to go to high tide, everyone on the beach had been pushed back into one thin ribbon of sand along the water front.
That ribbon of sand wasn’t going to last long.
There was no more back beach left to move back to.
It would be hours before any amount of beach was be available for habitation.
We gave in, packed up and left.
Making our way off the beach to the raised wooden pathway to the parking we passed family after family.
Families that were prepared for a day at the beach.
Families with beach carts packed with toys, chairs, umbrellas and food.
Families with countless eager young faces carrying boogie boards and pails and plastic shovels.
Mom’s with backpacks for sunblock and snacks.
Dad’s pulling the carts and leading the way to the beach.
Everyone with a face of expectation.
Faces of expectation and excitement.
Faces that had lasted through the long drive to the coast from deep inside the midwest.
Faces that had through the check in process.
Faces that had ears that had heard, “Almost there! Can you feel the sand in your toes? Can you smell the salt.”
We didn’t tell them.
We couldn’t tell them.
They would have to find out for themselves.
They were looking forward to a day at the beach.
They had been looking forward to a day a the beach since they had left home.
They had been looking forward to a day at the beach since Dad had announced he had booked their vacation.
The sun was out,
The weather was hot.
But …
But the tide …
The tide had taken the beach away.
No Haiku For You 