I’m trying to practice the concept of The Daily Post, and here’s a recent prompt.
You’re at the beach with some friends and/or family, enjoying the sun, nibbling on some watermelon. All of a sudden, within seconds, the weather shifts and hail starts descending from the sky. Write a post about what happens next.
The older I get, the more lessons I see in just about everything, and an adventure at the beach with my daughter Carrie and her four children four summers ago was no exception. Within the space of 30 minutes, I was reminded of a host of things.
On our way to the strand, we rode in and out of sunshine. Carrie expressed concern over the overcast skies, but I reminded her of how things could be sunny on the beach and raining like crazy of blocks away. We found a parking place at a beach access area, and within minutes we were basking in the Carolina sunshine and getting our feet wet in the warm water.
Carrie was snapping pictures right and left, and all was grand. Then suddenly, she shrieked, “It’s raining!” I turned around to see her gathering up our things, and about that time the sky fell in…or seemed to. Blinding sheets of rain pelted us, and wherever I looked, I saw people trudging, heads down, as fast as they could towards shelter. Then the wind picked up, and sand stung our legs.
In all of my decades of coming to the beach, I’ve never experienced such a deluge of rain and wind-borne sand. It was more than a little disconcerting, especially when I saw my little granddaughters, Emma and Brooke, screaming as they tried to wrap their towels around their tiny bodies. Around and around they spun.
Their older brother Braden didn’t look too happy either, but he managed to get his towel around his torso, thus protecting his skin from the stinging sand and pouring rain. I had the baby in my arms, and all I could see were his blue, blue eyes searching my face as if to ask, “What’s going on?”
Carrie got the truly necessary items, and we left the chairs behind as we made a dash to the car. Once inside, the children enjoyed their Fruit Snacks, and Baby Colton and I shared a banana while his mother closely monitored the weather. As an aside, it’s always good to be prepared for life’s storms.
Within five minutes, the downpour was over. The rain and wind ceased completely, and the sun popped out. The sky was a beautiful Carolina blue with only a few white fluffy clouds. We sat silently for about ten seconds, wondering if we had truly witnessed one of Mother Nature’s wildest and shortest storms or whether we had imagined it.
Satisfied that the coast was clear (literally), we again trudged down to the strand and got set up again. What followed was a delightful afternoon of fun and sun. While I pondered several lessons from experience, the primary one is that storms always pass; that’s nature’s way. This is true for “real life” too. The sun always comes out again, and sometimes the brightness is even more brilliant that before.
Sometimes our trials in life last much longer, but they always pass, and at some time, you’ll see a ray of brightness shining through. Even if it’s just a tiny glimmer, it can give you hope.
Gossip and Solitude 