Castles in the Sand

A day at the beach reminded me that childhood flies by like sand rushing through an hourglass.

A colleague once told me, when the hubby and I first adopted T, to enjoy T’s childhood because it will go by quickly.

I recently noticed that T has been staying in his bed throughout the night without coming to our room in the middle of the night.

Not only that, we can now simply tuck him in and kiss and hug him goodnight after reading books and then leave without a battle demanding that we lie down with him until he falls asleep.

I don’t know what to do with myself with that extra hour of freedom at night, but I’m looking forward to finding out!

I told the hubby it felt bittersweet, because it’s one of those subtle signposts that our T is inching away from childhood.

I will not miss him tossing and turning in bed next to me and keeping me up, but I will miss seeing the gentle light of sunrise on his peaceful quiet face, eyes closed, as he gently breathes.

As a child, time moved so slowly for me. A summer felt like an eternity of fun possibilities.

As an adult, you barely walk ten steps in flip flops and you’re ambushed with back-to-school or Christmas advertising.

As we step into summer, it feels like things are starting to go back to normal post-pandemic.

I pledged that we will especially soak up these precious no-school days of good weather, swims at the lake, and endless scoops of ice cream.

Because like a castle in the sand, childhood does not last forever.

Today, we spent a nice family beach day at nearby Darlington Provincial Park. Our only prior visit was in the winter and we knew then we wanted to come back to enjoy the beach.

It was busy but people were safely distanced. We learned our lesson from last weekend and bought a day permit in advance, a wonderful new service our province is piloting this summer.

We walked further down the beach where it was quiet and found a nice shaded spot under a large tree canopy.

The lake water was still cold but we walked in; T leading the way. After a few minutes of working up the nerve, I dunked my body in. The refreshing water woke me up better than my morning coffee.

T then wanted to make a sandcastle. We left him on his own while we hung out in the shade, enjoying the fresh air and calming sound of the water.

T and I then walked to the far end of the beach to explore, before he decided he was done and wanted to go home.

On our walk back, he said, “Poor daddy!” Because we had left the hubby on his own. When we got back to the canopy, he gave him a big hug.

We packed up our stuff and enjoyed a “late lunch” of ice cream. Gotta fill our empty tummies with something!

Here’s to a long fun summer for everyone!