Beachin' away the blues

Welcome to our Scusset Beach Gun Show!

Last weekend I (second-in from the right) met up with a bunch of lovely ladies from college at the Cape! We spent the day at Scusset Beach in Sandwhich, Mass. Armed with watermelon, adult beverages and other tasty snacks, we soaked up sun rays and caught up on life.

A game of frisbee chest-deep in the ocean turned into a "let's see how far we can swim out to sea' adventure." It felt so. damn. good to swim toward the endless horizon line, feel nothing but water beneath my feet as I treaded water, be carried by the waves while floating on my back. I feel so at home in the sea.

A walk down the jetty, extending deep into the ocean, took us farther out to sea than we could have swum. Swam? We climbed a warning tower and Sean graciously snapped our photos. Clamoring about the rocks, we struck many a strong-arm pose and cut our feet on barnacles. Anything for a photo, right?

I took so many deep breathes of the sea breeze. I know what I need to center myself sometimes and it's the sea. I carry so many worries in a wreath around my shoulders these days with Mum's May stay in the hospital, radiation treatment, pelvic fracture, impaired walking and ongoing chemo. I'm not a feeling-share-er. I tuck away my worries and compartmentalize them, put them out of my mind. But they only stay away for so long when there seems to be one thing after another. Blood transfusion, subsequent reaction to white cells, a mysterious virus, an ever-present fever.

My mum is the strongest, most resilient woman I know and I'm trying to be like her.  "One day at a time," she says. I don't know she does it. I just go numb. And maybe that's like taking it one day at a time. I learn of something unfortunate, face it, accept it's happening and go numb. Move forward.

There are moments I will grant myself when I completely let go. But for the most part, those times are few and far between. Mum has such a positive outlook and I know I've inherited that from her. I just have to remind myself to stay positive.

So I escape to the sea to recharge. The push and pull of the tide just resets my internal Circadian Rhythm and I'm renewed. It's so strange but I feel it. There's something with that ebb and flow. It doesn't have to be summer, or even during the day. Bring me to the sea any season and I feel better.

But boy does it help to have a crew of wonderful, beautiful ladies - inside and out - and your boyfriend to help you beach those blues away.  :]

Something about the sea

Summers of mine were spent on Cape Cod, at essentially the very tip, in North Truro. Ever since I was able to walk, my immediate and extended family traipsed to the Cape, year after year. My aunt Joanne has a friend who owned, in my biased opinion, the very best cottage, and there we would stay, weeks at a time. Fantastically crammed into this gorgeous old cape cottage with a backyard entirely of sand and a 10-second run to the bay. My cousin would donate the use of his truck and take us over the dunes to the most secret beaches discovered through word of mouth or years of Cape exploration. I know the lower cape (although it's really not physically lower) like the back of my hand.

Summers without trips to the sea are unimaginable to me. In fact, I wouldn't even designate them a summer if I didn't travel to the ocean, specifically on Cape Cod. Thankfully, that has never happened, and luckily, Sean is from Plymouth, which is full of beaches and sea spots - as well as ponds and lakes.

But ponds just don't do it for me and I readily say, "No thanks" to lakes. There's just something about the amoebas definitely swimming around in ponds and lakes, with their stagnant water from lack of a tide. Now, no offense to pond-preferers or lake lovers. Those bodies of water just don't get me excited like the sea. I'm well aware of the amoeba counter argument - um hello, there's living creatures in the sea, too - but because it's just so vast, and the waters are regulated by the tide ... to me, the sea is supreme.

This weekend, we traveled to Plymouth to Sean's parent's home and spent the majority of the weekend at Manomet Beach or in the pool. Super lazy bones, right? To get to Manomet Beach, you have to walk down an extremely long set of stairs, most of which are located in the backyards of lucky homeowners or renters. There is one set of stairs that - if you know where it is and know where to park - will get you access to the beach.

We saw some fun friends the first time we went down there and came home more sunburnt that we expected. The next day, we went back with his two sisters, Doris and Renee, and Renee's boyfriend's dog, Rocky. He's a Boston Terrier/Bull Dog mix. He wins the award for most endearing underbite. And most willing to eat anything found in the sand. Like a hermit crab. 

He mowed down on this guy, who fell out of the shell I picked up. Look, you can see the very end of him! One second after Doris took this shot, he plopped to the ground. Ah!

I think I'll be a beach bum later in my life.  But with more sun screen. And probably a hat. The freckles on my face go craaazzy in the summer! Sometimes I think I'm the only one who notices that they just appear, but then at least once a day someone has pointed them out. Does this happen to anyone else?!