We (and when I say "we," I mean Amber, Ethan and Ksenia) spent the better part of a week cleaning and organizing and furnishing (I helped on that part!) my office and guest room. It was awesome.
One night, we took a break and headed to the beach. Now, I live here and can go to the beach any time I want. (I know, tough life and all that....) I love the beach. I love the way the waves crash and I love the little birds that run from them. I love looking out at the vastness of the ocean and up at the immensity of the stars and feeling so insignificant, yet so incredibly important all at the same time - knowing that I am so small in the grand scheme of things, yet He who created it all knows my name and loves me with a depth that I can't fully comprehend.
My trips to the beach are often a time for quiet reflection. But not this night. We arrived a little before sunset. Ksenia has been to the beach before, but it was years ago and she's only 6 - she didn't remember it. As she ran, giggling, to the ocean, I watched her. She was so excited, jumping up and down and dancing in the waves.
She'd run into the waves and they'd crash over her and she'd fall - all the while laughing out loud....that amazing, unfettered, unselfconscious laughter of the innocent that gives life to fairies and heals the soul.
As we played in the waves, I found myself laughing out loud - joining in her excitement. We laughed and danced in the waves as the sun went down. We collected seashells and made a wish on the evening star.
It was magic.
I wished that Ksenia would be able to hold on to her innocence and excitement - that excitement where laughter and dancing can't be contained - forever.
After playing in the water, we headed back up to Ethan, wrapped up in towels and just watched the waves come in by the light of the moon.
Ethan played his guitar and we all sang...The Best Day by Taylor Swift and Last Kiss (a favorite my dad used to play and sing to us as kids).
As I sat there, watching the waves, feeling the sea breeze, surrounded by some of those I love the most, hearing them sing "...I had the best day with you...," I couldn't hold back my tears. (I'm a bit of a crybaby.) It was one of those moments - those moments of pure, unadulterated joy. I wanted to stop time and make that moment last forever. Even as I knew that in a little while, and after "one last song," we'd pick up and go back home and that all too soon I'd go back to work and Amber and Ksenia would go back to Oklahoma....I also knew that I'd always remember that moment.
And I said a quick prayer of thanks to my Father in Heaven, thanking Him for these perfect moments in my life. In a sometimes scary world and in the midst of of a life full of fear and stress and care and worry and pain and loneliness, He allows me those absolutely perfect moments. Those moments that make up my wonderful life. And for that, I am forever grateful.
The ocean has a way of bringing out that magic, doesn't it? There is something about being in a place where the earth and the sea and the sky all come together--it looks like it was a perfect day, and I hope you have many more of them!
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