Out of the Box

Yesterday at work I got a new beach parking sticker for the truck.  The reason being is I would like to make an effort to visit what many people would describe as the best benefit of living in SWFL, the beach.  A bizarre thing has happened since moving here, going to the beach, which prior to relocating south was imagined to be a core part of the Florida living experience has been anything but that.

The first year or so of living here we went to the beach pretty routinely and when I was playing beach volleyball I found myself there because that is where the tournaments were.  However once I stopped playing VB, my visits to the ocean became more and more sparse. The last time I went to the beach just to hang out was when my sister and her family were here visiting very early in 2020 before the shit hit the fan.

When I try to analyze why visiting the beach, something I absolutely cherished as a child when we would take our summer trips to the Jersey and Delaware shore, has become erased from my life, when I only live 17 miles from the coast is tough to explain.  There has been no deliberate intent to not go although my dozen or so skin cancer surgeries have definitely had some impact.  Going to the beach used to mean alternating between surf and sand with no regards to sun impact, part of the reason I am in the boat I am today.

I suspect the largest culprit in my beach absence is just how my life has for a long time diverted towards the road of fulfilling responsibilities and performing tasks, the process of which quite often makes the idea of taking a few hours off to sit on some sand seem like wasting valuable time.  I also have always been a very routine driven individual.  Beach visitation just never got a firm spot in my routine down here, despite how much I used to love it.

Hey I realize that interests come and go over time.  There are a ton of things I used to really enjoy/have interest in that have simply faded away, that is the way life goes.  However when it comes to beach visitation I would like to try to make an effort to work it back in.  Getting the parking sticker was the first step.  I discussed with Cindy possibly heading down to the beach after work some evening just to do something different. It’s cooler, the sun exposure is low, and it’s less crowded. Cindy is down with the idea as she loves the beach and has expressed remorse about not getting there as well.

So of course just talking about doing things means nothing.  Until the words are followed by meaningful action, intent doesn’t get the job done.