My parents were in love once.
And when they were, they built a little house on a little slice of sand on a little beach tucked away in a little part of town. Their house, becoming one of the few that would make up the skyline of this entire beach, for its entire life.
My parents built the fence together. My dad put a hot-tub behind it and my mom sewed bright-colored and cute handmaid curtains and pillows for the bay window in their bedroom and the wicker couch downstairs and the baby cribs.
My sister and I were brought home from the hospital on this beach. Had our first steps here. Remembered our first dreams here. Bathed with a constant sense of sandiness in the tub and played outside on the sand and in the water that was our home.
And then, my parents moved on. From each other, from the beach, and from this place they helped build.
I never realized I didn’t truly feel like I “belonged” anywhere until I recently stepped back in my original backyard and feeling the sense of belonging to these sands. This beach is a part of me, and I’m equally a part of it. These waves, lulled me to sleep as a child, lull me to sleep now.
And as people walked their dogs in front of my patio, and the neighbors came and went, and the wind shifted direction and the seagulls came in and out of my periphery and the tug boat bounced over the waves and the plants tried to thrive from the soil of the sand I thought to myself, this is mine.
Not only mine, but also mine.
The rumble of the waves crashed onto the shore, each time a little different, and each time exactly the same as they ever did on that small strip of beach.
The sun shone down on my face as I sipped my tea and wrote my haikus for the week set to the soundtrack that always played on an old record player in the 70’s-built living room that let the sun beam inside. I hope you enjoy.
I hope you feel a sense of home wherever you are. Thank you so much for reading. And for my paid subscribers, I’ll share a couple extra pics of that sun shining on my face and some extra haikus. Have a wonderful day, my friends.
XO
Sally