Having grown up in Oregon just a few hours’ drive from the coast, a trip to the beach at least three or four times a year was something to which I grew accustomed, though never weary. My siblings and I spent the days building forts among the driftwood logs, hunting for washed-up treasures, building sand castles and sculptures, playing in the (cold!) waves and warming ourselves by a fire as we munched on s’mores. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t love to sit and watch the waves rolling into the shore or crashing dramatically against the rocks, and I’ve never slept better than within the sound of the breakers and the scent of the ocean air.

There were a few times in my adult life when I found myself living far from the sea and unable to just hop in the car for a quick drive to enjoy its soothing presence. How I missed the long walks on the sand and the calm I felt with nothing but the sound of the waves and the wind in my ears! My girls seem to feel that same pull of the tides. Their favorite family vacations include our many trips to the beach; and even now, when Jenny comes home from college in Chicago, she always requests that we squeeze in a day or two at the coast.

Having just returned from a few days by the sea, I’m feeling the benefit of my brief stay there and reminded how good it is for me to make the time for those interludes of quiet. Although the weather can often be stormy and extremely wet at this time of year, this time there was barely a breeze, the temperatures were in the 50s, and the sun even peeped through the high, thin overcast on occasion. It gave me the chance to take  comfortable, long walks up the sand and pause for some lengthy stretches to just sit and watch the breakers rolling in. I’m never bored seeing how the water swells up and builds into a curling, green glass wall and then tumbles over in seeming slow motion into foaming, pounding surf. It offers an opportunity to empty the mind and think of nothing at all or a background against which to tackle some knotty problem without the interference of any other distraction.

So I’ve returned home to a week full of deadlines, appointments and obligations, but renewed in spirit, body and soul. And when life gets hectic, I’ll recall those peaceful moments by the sea until I can visit there again.

— Patty Vanikiotis, proofreader