Remembering the Beach

Well, as you can see I have added a few pictures. These are not from Iraq!! As if you really thought that I would bring my cherubs over here. These pictures were taken by my very energetic gal pal Christina - I miss her! Christina has a little boy, Timothy, who is just a few months older than Divon and Zephan - makes for lots of great "they're just being little boys" pictures and stories, but I digress. When I was on my 15 days of fun in the sun at home in NC we all went to the beach. The kids were great - playing in the sand, the ocean, chasing the beach birds... what a great time we had. Now that I am getting closer to going home, I am getting a little excited to get back to the beach as well. That is one of the first "little getaways" that Johnathan and I are trying to get lined up. Don't know if we will be taking bananas down to the beach again, for the kids all dipped them in sand and were not to pleased with their culinary experimentation - a bit on the gritty side. But I had to laugh - they just tried to keep on eating and spitting out the sand. Don't you dare try to take away their beloved bananas!!

The past couple of days we have been having a sand storm. (If you ask me they should be called what they really are - walls of dust that require 4 showers and a box of Q-tips to actually feel clean after they have subsided.) Last night it started to clear up - we could see the stars again. And this morning was as close to 'crystal clear' as I have seen it in a while. It was a beautiful morning with a nice breeze. When I closed my eyes, as I was walking this morning, I felt like I was at the beach. Sun warming my hair, wind rushing into and carressing my face... and then opening my eyes and seeing the above-the-beach-blue sky. Almost fooled myself for a minute. But then you see the guy ahead of you walking with his M16 and it brings you crashing back to reality. Oh well, it was my 15 seconds of being at home for the day.

Don't worry, I will be adding some pics from around Iraq, but for this morning - I am day-dreaming of being back at the beach.