At the onset of this week, we packed our bags full of toys, snacks and towels and headed to the beach. It was a glorious day full of sun, sun, sun!!! Going to the beach reminds me of the two summers that I worked as a nanny in Delaware. The family I worked for had a beach house on the Jersey Shore and I spent majority of my time with the three kids I was in charge of at the beach. Looking back, it was an awesome job. The Delaware family was somewhat of a replica of a family I’d been working for through my high school years and I felt right at home, aside from the whole beach house thing.
There was a certain culture on the Jersey Shore, one that I’m certain Snookie isn’t aware of, that involves looking like you’ve prepared to spend the day at the beach. It was important not to look like a Shoe Bee, bright white legs, gym shoes and a towel draped around your neck, obviously only visiting for a short time.
Determined not to look like Shoe Bees, each morning we’d strap our suits on, pack our lunches and load up the Radio Flyer with the essentials: beach chairs, towels, sunscreen, baby oil, a REAL shovel, an umbrella, various beach toys, boogie boards, and our lunch. It was a true balancing act to walk the three blocks the beach. Everybody had their own job, including the two year old, who had to balance on top of all the gear. We definitely did NOT look like Shoe Bees. We looked as if we were moving to the beach!
We’d deposit our sandals in the empty Radio Flyer in exchange for all the gear that we’d hauled to our spot. I’d use the shovel to dig a hole for the umbrella and then a hole that would entertain the kids for a while. Many days we’d stay at the beach until dusk, only heading back home because we were hungry and soggy potato chips didn’t seem to be enough for our hearty appetites. I spent two summers loving the Jersey Shore and the small island that we were living on.
Yesterday, as I packed our bag for our local beach, I couldn’t help but think about those two summers, where I got an education about what it really means to live on the beach and have kids. Instead of filing a wagon, I filled our beach bag and we headed out in our car…not the jam packed Radio Flyer. The sand wasn’t soft and the logs added an extra element to contend with, but we were at the beach! As I nestled in to my beach chair and Maggie found some rocks to fill in her bucket, I looked around and noticed all the Pacific Northwesterners sharing the sandy strip with me. I noticed something: we all looked like Shoe Bees!!!!
The man next to us showed up with his two kids, one of which was wearing fleece sweat pants, armed with a towel over his neck and two packs of sunscreen. Hearing them try to put sunscreen on, I might have guessed that perhaps they’d NEVER done it before. They then peeled off their socks and tennis shoes, rolled up their pants and tip toed down to the seaweed covered shore. No wonder we’re a bunch of Shoe Bees, we’ve hardly got a real beach to work with.
Although I love where we live, I could be convinced to again spend my summers loading up a Radio Flyer, digging holes on the beach and looking for arriving Shoe Bees from my beach chair.
We’ve always got the Sandy Lagoon.*
*Sorry for the two days in a row naked-butt pictures.
