Up early. A perfect day! Sunny. 84 degrees. Breezy. Carol and I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast by the pool that consisted of muffins, assorted fruit: watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, grapes, blueberries and bananas, orange/mango juice and plenty of coffee. What a life! I could get used to this.
After eating, savoring our coffee and chatting about everything we could think of, we got ready to head for the beach and a long walk. Carol found a couple of straw hats in her closet, pitched one to me, and plopped another on her head. With the addition of sunglasses, we were out the door and on our way... cameras in hand.
At the beach, the hot sand was almost more than our bare feet could stand and we hurried to the water’s edge. As waves rolled in and collapsed on the sand, splashing us too liberally at times, we enjoyed walking in the foamy water, our feet sinking into the wet sand. It amused us to watch sandpipers trying to outsmart the incoming tide. One little bird, in particular, would walk as far as he could toward the water as it receded, and then run as fast as he could when he saw it coming back in. It was so cute! Most of the time, he made it to safety before the water reached him, but a few times, we laughed when he misjudged the speed of the incoming water and it caught up with him, wetting him thoroughly before he could run or fly away.
I’m usually very afraid of birds but the sandpipers didn’t seem too threatening. Although I’ll have to admit that the bigger birds gave me the shivers when they flew very close.
After an hour or so in the surf and snapping a few pictures, we were ready to head back for some lunch and iced tea by the pool – then a little rest before cleaning up for dinner.
Dinner was at a place advertised as: “Long Doggers Radically Relaxed Grill and Brew – where you can enjoy great food and great fun in a totally casual environment.” Though it looked like a little “hole in the wall,” it was a very popular place to eat. We had to wait about twenty minutes for a table and finally got one outside. It was worth the wait. We totally enjoyed the food, the ambiance and spending time together.
Back at Carol’s, we got into our PJs and met in the TV room to watch a video of her husband’s life made by one of her grandchildren. It was a bittersweet sensation to watch the life of these two people who had been my friends for many years, and it saddened me to know that, though they were always together, Carol would be going the rest of the way without Herb. We shed a few tears watching that video together.
Finally, we hugged, said, “Good Night,” and were off to our respective bedrooms... turning the page on the first day we’d spent together in a number of years, but looking forward to tomorrow.
Tomorrow: Day two
3 comments:
Wonderful! It must have been a mixture of fun,excitement and a little sad to that so many years had passed and things had changed so much. Good story. Can't wait for tomorrows.
this is very nice peg. happy and sad at the same time.
very good as usual peg. you do have a way with words. sam
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