“Your mother tells me you’re going on a family trip to the beach,” Maga said.
“Indeed we are.” I gave her the pertinent details (not for the first time). “And what about you. Did you like visiting the beach?”
“Oh yes. When I was young, Nana and I would go to the beach every summer. Cape Cod. We’d go for 2-3 weeks. We’d go to the Craigsville Inn. It was very comfy. Have you ever been to the Cape?”
“A couple of times.”
“That was a big part of my summers. I remember it very well. I haven’t been back in dozens of years because it’s not exactly around the corner from Colorado.”
“What was your favorite part of those trips?”
“The sun. The sound of waves splashing up on the beach. It’s very soothing.”
“Did you ever get in the water?”
“I was never a good swimmer. I could swim, of course, but that water isn’t really for swimming.”
“It’s more for bobbing.”
“Why, yes, I guess that’s a good way to describe it.”
Maga’s salty, sandy memories + learning we swim (read: doggie paddle) the same way brightened me on this otherwise gloomy, rainy Tuesday.
Abigail Mumford 