Less than ten minutes later we pulled into “our” parking spot at Xanadu Beach. At first we were a little disappointed to see half a dozen other cars there. For us, that means the beach is crowded. As we looked forward, we realized there were only a few people actually on the beach and they looked like they were getting ready to leave. So we hid the keys, grabbed the towels and headed down the path to the water.
As I hung our towels up on a convenient pine tree, I had to smile as I looked out over the clear water. There were so many beautiful shades of blue that I cannot even describe it accurately, other than to say it was perfect.
Tide was high, which means there’s a large sandy expanse with water so clear you can see the shells at the bottom. We waded into the cool water until it was about chest deep.
I kept noticing what looked like a twig floating next to me. The closer I looked I realized it was something else. I cupped my hand carefully under it and lifted it up. It was a tiny black seahorse! They’re very rare to find in areas like that, just floating in the shallows. Kamal and I were pretty excited to see it. It hovered around us for a few minutes before it floated off with the current.
I said to Kamal, how lucky are we? Not many people can say they’re able to come to a beautiful, safe beach they have pretty much to themselves anytime they feel like it. And even fewer can say they held a seahorse while taking a swim. We can!
Not to sound all wishy-washy. It’s so easy to get caught up in our disappointments: “I don’t make enough money”, “I’m not where I thought I’d be”, “I don’t have time to do the things I want”… They may be legitimate issues. But I’m discovering that spending so much time focusing on negative stuff may be causing me to miss the good things around me – like swimming with Kamal and a tiny seahorse at my favorite beach.
How lucky am I!