April 5, 2009. Mexico. The Beach.

Children love to be on the beach. So much activity, everything moving and changing. friends and relatives along to play, kids just love the beach. Sandcastles, Frisbees, pails, shovels, footballs. The toys are endless. The waves are the best, always changing and always coming, wave after wave. Today the beach was full of people. In both directions you could see people both big and small. For the first time since we arrived, today we walked on the beach, and I loved it. I do not really like to walk on the beach, because of the angle of the beach. My hips hurt after a mile or so. But today the tide was out so we were able to walk in the very wet hard flat sand, which was pleasing to me. Then after our walk we sat at a restaurant right in front of our resort and ate lunch and watched the people.

I think this is a familiar story. A man with two children came down to the beach and quickly chose a hut for shade along with several beach chairs. The children dropped their towels and shirts and shoes and raced down to the water. I am guessing that the children, a girl and boy were 7 and 9. The Father pulled up a lounge chair to the top of the slope and sat down to watch the children, who were by then in the water up to their knees. Mother arrived carrying a sleeping baby, noticed the Father sitting a long way from the children and hollered in Spanish to the husband and quickly raced down to the edge of the water, with the Father right after her. They had a discussion. She brought the sleeping baby up to the carriage, while the Father went into the water with the children, where he stayed. It is certainly true, that Mothers are more protective than Fathers, and I watched this carried out, right before my eyes.