Wildwood

I got to Wildwood on my dad's birthday and got to participate consuming my mom's homemade cherry cheesecake. My dad was putting out the candles with his fingers. No comment.

There is a peculiar correlation between how many birthdays someone has and how long their life is, but which causes which?

My mom and I share the enjoyment of walking. We got to do a lot of walking together during my visit. We went to the polls to vote, the diner for brunch, and then walked the sea wall and beach of my youth. I love the beach. Here is some baby dune grass that just got planted. I had to lie down on the sand to get the shot.

The water was nice.

Yes I am in this picture.  I am standing to the right on a pipe near the tire of this monster land/sea rover.  It's part of the major dune restoration project taking place in the current non-tourist season.


This is the house where I grew up.

When we got back to the house, I realized I had lost my keys somewhere along our long walk. My van was securely locked and I had lost both keys for it at once. Hmm. We did a lot of walking and a lot of that was on the beach. Would I have to backtrack the entire length? Even if they were dropped in a visible location, someone else might have found them and might not get them back to me. Or maybe the sand would cover them over, or the low tide could rise and devour them. I had to think. Focus. Narrow the possibilities. I focused my thoughts on figuring out where I might have dropped them instead of the pending hassle of replacing them. Several possibilities emerged, but I really wondered if they came out of my pocket when I was taking the picture with the baby dune grass. My mom and I drove back to that spot on the beach and guess what, my keys were happily sitting there sunbathing away like nothing was ever wrong. Yay! Mystery solved. Hassle averted. Adventure logged. Van/house easily accessible.

I love my parents, and they love me.  I'm glad they were happy to be my hosts at the beginning of this journey.  And why not?  They hosted me for the first 20 years of my life, why not a couple more nights now and again? : )