May 13, 2010
Not Your Typical Day at the Beach
I think Barbara Kingsolver once said - or rather, one of her characters said - that if you can't be beautiful, you might as well be memorable. Some days are like that, and as a parent of kids growing up in a smallish Northwestern Ontario city, you have to really embrace that sometimes.
So, on a grey, windy, so very windy day at the beginning of May, with our favourite go-to spot on the shore inaccessible (for the entire summer!) due to (highly controversial) construction, we thought we'd go see the float planes.
One strong headwind did nothing to hold us back, just made the cycling Mama gleeful at the thought of an easy ride home.
And float plane means float, which means water, which in Sebastien's mind means beach...and so we ventured forth across the road to find said beach.
And it's funny how MY version of a nice day at the beach (or even a nice beach) has nothing to do with their reality.
It was windy, and flippin' cold, the view was industrial, and they were thrilled.
Because they are boys, there were sticks, there was sand, and we were outside. There was also glass, an astonishing amount of glass, thankfully worn soft and harmless by Lake Superior's restless waves. There was a clamshell, tiny, but big enough to examine.
At the end of the day - we got out of the house, and there were feathers, rocks, sticks, logs...and floatplanes!
Not a beautiful day in the typical sense. We do what we can with what we have.
And the day after, we played in the sunshine in our (mostly) hazard free yard.