VA Beach

Ahhhhhh! The beach! My heart and soul is never as free as it is when I'm smelling the sweet, salty air, with my feet in the sand at any beach! This year, even though it was only for a day and 1/2, my heart and soul were free! Well, except that is, just before it just about stopped... my heart that is...

Kim (my sister, who's not really my sister--not even kin to me actually--ok, her Mom and my Dad were married for about 11 years, Kim and I met when she was 6 and I was 9 and we grew up together, so instead of going into the whole spiel, we just keep it as we're sisters) and I made plans a few weeks ago to take the boys to Va Beach. Kim lived there for a while, so she's obviously very familiar with it, as of course, I'm not (we always vacation in Nags Head, NC). Ean and I went to see her when she lived there a long time ago and I went with a friend, again, a long time ago. Since we aren't going on a family vaca, so to say, the boys and I wanted/needed to get to the beach. Long story short--we went! lol

I actually drove to the beach! HUGE deal there, as I don't drive anywhere other than my usual haunts! I was kinda proud of myself, actually! Did pretty good! HOLLA! We went straight to the boardwalk and hit the sand! It was awesome! Even though the weather was kinda overcast, it was wonderful! The boys played and had a blast! Kim and I chilled out in our chairs, taking it all in

We checked into our room and then we hit the pool! After that, we walked to the bay and the boys had a blast finding all the treasures that were washing up onto the beach from the bay waters! It was very lovely there, it was getting late in the afternoon and the sun was giving everything an orange glow! I was in a trance! Man, the waters do my soul sooooo good!

For dinner Monday nite we went to a great pizza joint called Doughboys! Delish! And the waiter being a lil hottie, made our meal even MORE enjoyable! lol

The next day we checked out of our room and hit the beach (oceanside) again! The weather was super sunny and HOT! The boys fled to the water--Ean bobbing in the waves and Evy boogie boarding and making friends! The water was taking Evy, especially, down shore, so we kept telling him to come up to us, be mindful of where we were, etc. Our parking meter was quickly running out of time, so Ean came up with us to dry off. I decided to give Evy 5 more minutes of boogie boarding fun with his new buddy, Zachary. Ean was talking to me, I took my eyes off of Evan for 20 seconds (at the most). When I looked back to where he was, he was NOT THERE ANYMORE. The beach was very crowded, so I didn't panic right away. I got up, walked to where Zachary was and asked him where Evy was. Zachary didn't know. I began to call for Evan--no answer. I began to pace up and down the beach, scanning every child. I scanned the water for him, for his boogie board. No Evan. Ean had gotten up and come to the edge of the water, I looked up at him and he motioned for me to come to him. "Have you found him?" I asked, Ean shook his head no. I then flew into PANIC MODE. I screamed to him to start searching and I ran thru the crowds of people to the lifeguard station. "I can't find my little boy, he's 7" I croaked. The young, pretty lifeguard went into action immediately! She asked me his name, etc. I answered her questions and ran back to the water, screaming his name and praying to Jesus to let my baby be alright. All I could think was that he was drowning out in the water. OMG--that was the worst feeling of my life, EVER!!!!!!!!!!! There were people, caring and concerned parents (I'm sure) coming up to me, saying things. I don't recall what they were saying, asking his name I guess, I don't know if I even answered those sweet folks. All I could do was run up and down the beach, SCREAMING his name and searching frantically. Then the cute little lifeguard came down to me. "Ma'am, I need you to go stand by my station, because IF we find him, I need to know where to find you". That's when it hit me. When she said IF, I almost went to my knees. I almost vomited. But I didn't go back to the lifeguard station. I couldn't. How could I go stand somewhere and wait for someone else to find my baby. I don't really remember those few seconds/minutes. The next thing I remember is the lifeguard coming back telling me that they found him--he was 2 lifeguard stations up, he had found a man and told him that he couldn't find his Mom and that WONDERFUL man took him straight to another lifeguard. I thanked Jesus, then thanked the lifeguard and began to run to the station that housed my son! A middle-aged Hispanic woman grabbed my arm (this one I DO remember) and asked me my child's name. "His name is Evan, but they found him and he's ok" I yelled to her as I ran. I saw her put her hand to her heart and mouth "Thank God" as I kicked up sand all the way to Evan. When I saw him, I thanked God again. I didn't know if I wanted to hug him or spank him... I hugged him. Then I asked him why he was there! He said the water took him down, and when get got out, it was so crowded that he couldn't see/find us! I told him again, that's why we were telling him to stay close as he could. I was shaking, happy, sick, thankful and mad. I wouldn't let him take his hand out of mine. Needless to say, we packed up for the day.

As we were washing the sand off of our feet, I'm still holding his hand mind you, Evan tells me that he's embarrassed... I guess his mother running around like a lunatic looking for her child that she thought was either drowning or kidnapped just wasn't very cool for him...

God is Love--Peace Out