The Ocean Never Really Leaves You

Published on Tuesday, May 26, 2009 by Katherine

corolla beach This weekend, we were at my mother’s in the Outer Banks. Our home away from home. Paradise. My children were raised on this beach. We have had ups and downs there, just as one has at home. From many a stomach flu to many moments of hysterical laughter… from spotting deer and fox behind the house to watching fireworks shot directly above us… from huge double rainbows to wild horses under the house – we have seen it all.

Saturday I found myself standing on the beach next to a mother I had never met before. She was there for the week, calling New Jersey her home. As our daughters played, we skipped from subject to subject. We talked about motherhood, food and fathers. About English teachers, jobs and home life. From there, we found ourselves in a moving talk about best friends with cancer, dying fathers and the existence of heaven. I had just met this woman, and yet our minds and hearts briefly connected, standing in the sun as the surf crashed before us.

It was then that she said, “You know, there are some conversations you can only have with the sun on your face and your toes in the sand. And once you get that sand on your feet, it never truly comes off.”

I believe I will remember these words forever. As I sit at work, I indeed still feel the sand between my toes. The ocean is forever calling me, running through my veins. I know my children will be the same, no matter where their lives will take them. At this moment, I am still on that beach, toes in the sand, sun on my face, talking about things you can only reveal in the presence of the ocean.