Tonight I was the Spontaneous mom I always wanted to be….
It’s a Tuesday night in April. School is in full swing and the cool of Spring is slowly giving way to summer on the coast. We’ve finished homework, been to sports practices and I’m just now getting dinner on the table. My husband is working nights and I’m flying solo with 3 kids tonight. When it just hits me; I really want to go to the beach… right now.
I tell the kids to, hurry and eat their dinner and go throw on their swimsuits. I’ve never seen them demolish a plate so fast. I check the time and the weather report for the sunset…. we’ve got 35 minutes until the sunsets. I text my hubby and he thinks I’m cRaZY! (he knew this when he married me)
We hop in the car. Just us and some towels. No snacks, no drinks, no chairs, no music, no sand toys or boogie boards. None of the things that normally come along on a beach trip. Just us.
As I drive out to the island I feel like I’m racing the sun. I want this so bad. I just need it. We come over the bridge and I get a glimpse of the most perfect sunset. But then I start to get anxious. The street lights are already on. Everyone’s car lights are definitely in night mode. Am I crazy? Is this a mistake? I keep on.
As we pull onto the beach road it’s dark. Like, real dark – the kind where we should surely be home and be getting ready for bed. It’s a school night. I keep going and I tell the kids that we can’t stay long. Then we pull onto the beach and get out.
It was magical. I cried. The moon had already risen and you could just barely see the last glow from the sun. The water was perfect and oh, how beautiful it was under the moonlight. I cried. My kids took off into the surf and laughed and screamed and played their hearts out for an hour. I just stood there on the beach, with my baby in my arms, soaking it all in.
This random, spontaneous moment is what life is all about. We made a memory tonight. They might forget it, but I never will.
