Beach trip

The beach is a magical place, nobody will argue that. It's where people go to relax and unwind from the routines and stresses of daily life. The beach holds a power that allows people to mentally travel back in time to younger days, freeing them to bare a little more skin, laugh a little louder or to even pick up that karaoke microphone because "I don't know these people."

This year the beach held even more power. This year it helped bring back my little girl. She arrived on Sunday afternoon tentative. Her face was glowing with possibilities as she struck several ballerina poses before dipping her toes into the waves.



And she danced. And before I knew it she was riding the surf on a boogie board, catching that big wave that she talked about in the hospital way back when...

She held her head high to the sun, meeting the rays, eager for adventure.

And this little one that bares her soul through her angel eyes, she had a blast too. She swam and hopped and giggled, adding warmth into every person she crossed.


And the beach did something else too. It assured me that this girl below, this Katie girl, this a for real friend. This trip cemented the transition from friendly moms to trusted friends. Her kindness helped bring my girls back, and the beach helped bring me back too. I relaxed. I laughed a little louder and showcased my temporary tan. She listened with an open heart as a recounted the pain from the past two months, got it off my chest, and was then able to sing loud and dance silly. We talked about our fears of bring up these three girls...Kennedy Marie, Harper Leigh and Baylor Kate. Are we hard enough? Are we too hard? Can we protect them from everything??? Can we mold them into something better than we are?
We agreed that we are loving them with every ounce of our Mama-selves, and that was good enough. That is all any of us can do.

And by Wednesday, we had this girl back....100%. Adventure is out there!