Coronado Beach, CA June 2010
When my cousins and I were younger, summer was our favorite time of year. We would be dropped to our grandmother's house and that's when the adventures would happen. Some days we would pretend we were super heroes and run around the house with our capes made from blankets. Other days, we'd build huge forts with blankets, chairs and couch pillows. We'd "cook" our food over the fake fire and make up dangers that were outside the protective walls.
On the special weekends when the family would make a trip to the beach, we'd bolt out of the car, run towards the sands and eagerly wait for permission to plunged carelessly into the cold northern California water. Throughout the day we would hunt for seashells and jump the waves. Once we were done running away from waves, we started the process of building the perfect sand castle. This required some engineering and most importantly water for the dried sand on the shore.
We'd each take turns to run out to the water and scoop up buckets of water to bring back and wet the sand to mold our towers, walls and eventually carve out a moat. By the time we would finish our castles our parents were calling to us signaling it was getting late and we it was time to get cleaned up.
When I saw these three girls this past weekend, I thought of my two cousins and I felt sadness. I miss those summers with them. Now we don't talk as much anymore and I wonder if they ever think about those summers when we were all worked together to build our castles, forts, imaginary world and our relationships.
