Happy Monday! I hope your week and weekend were wonderful. I’m getting back into my normal routine after a week-long family trip to Folly Beach, SC. Those three dots in the sky are kites. Not ours! Folly is just below Charleston and has been a family favorite for many years and hasn’t changed much since we first discovered it back in the early 80s. Which is part of its charm.

Another part of the charm is Bert’s Market, a Folly Beach institution for over twenty years. A visit to Folly isn’t complete until you’ve stopped and had ice cream … well, at least it’s not complete for our family. And ice cream at the pier, too. Yes, ice cream is a must.

Several friends spent time at various beaches in recent weeks, and the season is just beginning. What is it that draws us to the coast? The word ‘prevails’ kept coming to me during the week.

Below is one of the many loggerhead turtle nests dotting the beach, protected by orange tape or netting, and the Folly residents. Like all coastal communities, residents of Folly take seriously the environment and its wildlife. Loggerheads return to the beaches of their birth when it’s time to lay their eggs, despite the challenges of large sharks cruising along the coast, and seabirds waiting for those delicate little hatchlings. Yet they prevail.

Because of the width of the beach, (75-100 feet at low tide), watching the tides roll in and out every day was fascinating. Walking to the pier each morning was easy with enough room to give walkers–with and without dogs–and joggers plenty of space for private reflection. The rhythm of the waves coming in, creeping a few inches further with each lapping, lulled more than one of us to sleep in our beach chairs. By late afternoon that stretch of beach was under several feet of water with boogie board and paddle board skiff riders cresting the waves and floating into the softer sand just below the dunes. And most of those Shaboomis moved back several feet! While something I know from science class, I don’t typically think much about tides. But sitting on the beach, the predictability of each high and low arrival was, I don’t know, reassuring? Comforting? Awe-inspiring?

The same for each morning sunrise. My classmate Bob posted sunrise photos from his recent vacation to the beach. Here are mine, one from our deck and one from the pier. We were blessed with beautiful weather every day, each one beginning with a stunning sunrise.

Even though I know tides arrive and the sun rises every day, sitting on the beach I don’t take either for granted.

With all the man-made chaos in the world at the moment, sitting on the beach I was reminded that nature, what God created, prevails. That gives me hope. Despite what we humans do to mess things up, turtles always find their way home, the moon continues to pull and release the tides. The sun rises every morning. Maybe that’s why we’re drawn to the beach, to be reminded, to reset our hearts.

Last week I mentioned that as the privet continues to be whacked out of the woods, other trees appear. I saw a second mimosa this morning! Another one I swear I’ve never seen before but now fills the canopy with its pink blossoms. In areas of the yard where I sat and pulled minute shoots of privet, the grass has come in green and lush. The lawn is looking healthier than it’s ever been. Last night I stepped out on to the deck and fireflies were flitting, like tiny twinkling stars, all over the yard. More than in recent years, but still not as many as when I was a kid and did a ‘catch and release’ with small jars. As I transform the yard, I hope more fireflies will find their way here.  

It’s always good to get away, but it was nice to sleep in my own bed again. My heart is reset and I will guard that as best as I can, especially as the midterms draw close and we’re hit with a deluge of political ads. Here are a few more beach pics to help all of us focus on what prevails.

Do you have a favorite beach? What makes it your favorite? As you can see, reading was part of our vacation. My Grand and my son’s girlfriend and I did a beach book club during the week. Do you pack a book or two?

I have no idea yet what I’ll post about next Monday, but I’ll be here! I’m reading a book for Book Review Monday on the 29^th and it’s giving me much to think about. I’ll be interested in hearing your thoughts. I hope you have a wonderful week! May there be real moments of hope for all of us.