A Legacy of Love: The sea

"for whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
its always ourselves we find in the sea"
-e.e. cummings

"You have to respect the sea!"
- Ross Ghellar

I didn't grow up by the sea. I rarely even visited as a child, but when I met Alex, it was eye-opening and now, I get it. I had hopes as a new bride that we would always live by the sea, but Alex's Naval Career actually took us elsewhere, and here we are - far far away from anything that could be remotely called a beach or the sea.

For Alex, it is in his blood, the love of the ocean. As much as I love the ocean, notsomuch in my blood. I pray that my children inherit this love and identity from their father - after all, they are one-fourth Norwegians...True Vikings, these little ones - hopefully without the rape and pillage part.

So, my favorite activity in Connecticut was our visit to the beach. We went twice and would have stayed longer if the sun wasn't so rudely slipping below the horizon, denying us its light.

For a Texas girl, like me, most familiar with the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico, the New England beaches are shocking. They are rocky and hurt your feet to walk barefoot in the sand. Upon our first visit to Cape Cod, I told Alex that I just didn't understand the mindset of the Kennedy clan. They had all that money -could have gone anywhere - yet they chose to summer in Cape Cod? For awhile, I didn't even really qualify Cape Cod as a beach - so rough on my feet, so uncomfortable it was to stretch out on a towel. But now, (I'm more mature, you see) I have realized that the South Padre sand I loved so much in my twenties is not what makes the beach magical. It is the ocean. The yawning depth, teeming with life and mystery, the waters that existed even before land, (I could go on)...That is what makes the beach magical.

So, rocky as it is, the Connecticut shoreline is still a fantastic, awe-inspiring place. And, honestly, we had a blast. Here are some pics from the first beach trip: (I guess when I say some, I should elaborate...almost 30!)