The Miss Elaine-ous Life

random acts of life, family and photos

At The Ocean

by

Water gives life. It also takes it away.

Write a short piece – fiction or non-fiction – inspired by one or both of these statements.

I sat at the edge of the surf, just in the right spot for the water to hit my feet every time the tide came up. The sand was cooler there. Memories of my own childhood at the beach came to me. Days spent searching for shells, splashing in the salty sea in my sailor swimming suit.

While riffling through the distant images in my head, I watched the boys and their dads playing in the shallow water then glanced back to see my friend still reading her book.

She didn’t know.

She didn’t know that last night, while she and her husband were out for their “alone” dinner, I peed on a stick in the vacation house half bath. And two pink lines showed up.

We’d decided not to tell our friends we were vacationing with, because we wanted to share the news with our parents first. Looking back, I don’t really know it if would have mattered all that much. We should have told them. Weren’t they curious as to why I didn’t have any wine that night after they got back and we played scrabble? Again.

I dug my toes into the sand and watched the tiny little “clams” as they clamored their way back under the surface each time the water receded. They were even bigger than the baby in my belly. Was it another boy? Or maybe a girl this time? “I’m going with boy”, I said to myself.

As I watched rhythmic wave after wave, the water swallowing its own self up, I thought about the water that would keep my baby alive within me and what an amazing thing God did when he designed our bodies for pregnancy.

I thought about the water that a priest would pour over this baby’s head, as we gathered around the altar in front of our church community, with huge smiles on our faces, welcoming the innocent bundle officially into God’s family.

I dreamed of the day we’d eventually share this special place with the new baby. Here, in this same spot where the sun shines on our faces with its intense summer rays. The place where we build sandcastles and later laugh about where we find the same sand, while cleaning up for a dinner of fried fish and shrimp.

This baby and his/her older brother, someday squabbling over the same sand pail or asking Daddy to take them out into the water. And later that same day, excited for $1.00 souvenirs of plastic “Made in China” back-scratchers and magnets of dolphins and packages of shells.

And me, taking a moment to show both of them the ocean, with all its power and telling them to be cautious but also to see the power of rejuvenation and cleansing of the soul that it holds. Because that is what it does for me on every visit…

Just then, I was brought of my thoughts as my first baby called me to come and play in the waves with him.

And so I went.

Comments

  6. I want to go to the beach now.

    I liked you how you worked various forms of water into your story, from the ocean to the baby.

    You had me there, next to you with your descriptions. Great job!

  9. This is so touching. I love that you added a picture in for us. I could totally SEE you sitting there, but then when I saw the picture I could also see what I had already felt. What you were looking out on.

    And a beautiful tie-in to the way water nourishes our babies.

    How crazy that must have been to keep that hidden. I had friends visiting when I knew I was pregnant but keeping it quiet, and my friend eventually thought I was upset with her because I was going to bed so early!

  17. I love this. I wanted to write on this prompt so bad, but whatever this illness I have is sucking my creativity. You did a great job.

  18. Elaine, this is downright lovely!

    Also, totally unrelated but I’ve been wanting to tell you.

    As I watched the Oscars the other night I couldn’t help but remember when we had watched it together the year before. 🙂

  21. Loved the self-reflection in this post. You gave voice to so many of the thoughts I had while pregnant with my second.

    I loved the ways you used water – for the baby, for the baptism, for the family fun.

  22. That time that you keep your pregnancy to yourself is like no other time in your life. Such a huge happy secret to carry. I kept quiet for three months. Felt like I was living inside my own head the whole time. You captured that feeling beautifully.

  24. A lovely, lovely post.

    I loved the secret of pregnancy. It’s one of the truest, purest secrets my husband and I ever kept.