A Time For Drip Castles

We are at the beach. We’ve been here since Monday evening. That was Memorial Day, and most of the people who mobbed the area last weekend left as we were coming in, so things have been pretty quiet and uncrowded. It has been a nice get-away for us.

For some years, if Patsy and I were ever able to get away at all, it was usually only for a couple of days. This time, we have had most of a week. It has been nice not to have anything at all we had to do.


We haven’t tried to go sightseeing. We went to a grocery store when we had to and stopped into a couple of other shops. Mainly, we have just “hung out” together. That has been good for us. It has been a long time since we simply relaxed together.

Matt and Meghan came Tuesday night and stayed until Thursday morning. Their visit was a special treat. Since my melanoma, I don’t lie out in the sun, but Matt and Meghan went to the beach with Patsy, and Patsy was able to pass on to Meghan her special techniques for making a sand castle by the “drip” method. I joined them on the beach late, after the sun was well on its way toward hiding.

Peaceful. Fun. Nowhere we had to be, nothing we had to do. At liberty to relax. Maybe go to bed early. Sleep late. I didn’t even bother to get out my fishing tackle – too much trouble. Vegitate. Walk on the beach if we felt like it – or not.

Funny thing, though – after we had several days to “chill,” we began to realize how exhausted we really were!

We spend our lives running from urgency to urgency. Sometimes, the urgencies are even important. We go and go, and drink a little more coffee and go again. We put it down to being “Type-A” personalities, and we go some more.

Maybe one of us gets to go to bed early or to sleep late sometime, but mostly, we just stay on-the-go. Sometimes, I’m not sure where we’re going, but we keep moving….


But not this week. This week, we chilled. Even when there seemed to be an emergency back home, we just left it to others to clean up the mess, and we chilled. Not that we didn’t care, but … we just accepted that we were, at least for the moment, expendable. The world could turn without us. So we let it.

The chill time is ending too quickly. Tomorrow, we must go back to that other world that demands we help it turn.

It’s too soon. The deep weariness has not been fully displaced yet. But we have obligations, so we must pack up and go.

These five days away has been a huge blessing. I suspect we will try to do this again – soon. Maybe – is it possible? – we will even stretch things out closer to two weeks?

Life really should allow time for drip castles.