I was at the beach this morning with Angelus (Storm looked outside, said “sun is shining” and opted for cooler, lazier time at home.) The tide was coming in but still somewhat low-ish so you could walk out by the break wall fairly far. This is one of my favorite places to take the buds when it is low-tide as I can let them off-leash if no one is around (usually only early mornings.) They are huskies so I don’t let them off leash in non-fenced areas. They really are good at listening to me 98% of the time but that 2% is what I worry about.
But I feel safe here as we are far from any traffic and they run towards the ocean. And since they are not swimmers, there really is only so far they can go :) And then they can chase each other, birds, look for crabs, dig in the sand and play hide-and-seek with the seals!
But this morning it was just me and Angelus. And then 2 older ladies came by. They looked to be in their late 50s – early 60s and were wearing very similar, plain outfits with their hair in buns. At first I thought Amish. But then one took out a digital camera to take a picture of Angelus so that scratched Amish off the list. Mennonite? Conservative Mormon? Orthodox Jew? No clue. But they were dressed far too similarly in very simple, plain (think Little House on the Prairie) outfits to not be something that didn’t condone dressing like a beach bum or in a Juicy tracksuit:)
The other way I could tell they were not from around here – they were so in awe of the ocean. And the rock wall. And the birds. They were looking at a starfish like it was a freshly-landed alien. They asked me if I was going to grab it. I answered ‘No – he’s fine where he is since the tide was coming up.’ They were in such awe of this thing. And it made me realize – we take so many things for granted in our daily life. I know I do. I live there so I see it every day. And I know it’s awesome. But to feel as excited about it as these 2 ladies obviously were – no, I don’t. To be as thoroughly over-joyed as they were – no, I’m not usually.
So I need to start taking a little more time to appreciate the beauty of where I live and visit. Because the sheer happiness and joy it obviously brought these 2 ladies was pretty darn cool :)
