Last month, I mentioned that Baby-girl loves playing with the big boys. Nevertheless, the last time we were at our old house, things took a different turn. Historically, the boys have made much verbal ado about surfing, even making plans to attend a surf camp. Usually in the moment, however, since the boogie boards are conveniently propped beside the door to the beach, the boys end up spending most of their beach time boogie boarding. This last time, however, at their request, LCB dragged an old surf board out of the shed, and they took turns trying to mount and ride the beast.
Frankly, they picked a terrible day from a wave standpoint; the ocean was calmer than it typically is here. But, you know how it is. When the mood strikes, it strikes.
So naturally, their momma had great fun watching them contort themselves in various positions, all in an effort to stand on a board that, in the end, wasn’t going to move that much without sufficient wave action. It didn’t matter though really; they were both in their own world, deep in a battle of boys against board.
All things considered, they did fairly well, or at least far better than one certain mother would have done had she succumbed to their challenges to “try it for yourself,†challenges delivered with chicken-like sound effects.
When this whole comedic battle started unfolding, Baby-girl stood by the shore at first, taking it all in. Then, she moved down the shore a few feet, and settled herself at the ocean’s edge.
There she sat for an hour, playing, daydreaming and even singing at one point, lost in her own little world.
So it is that the ocean, in some small way, is not unlike the wardrobe a famous Brit once told of, a portal of sorts to another world.
** In an entirely different note, my prayers go out to all the people bracing for Hurricane Sandy’s impact the next few days, particularly those in the Northeast. I hope she turns out to be a wuss.