The Beach
May 4, 2020 — Laura House
During the thirty-seven years of our marriage, the beach has always been our “happy place” — and we passed that love on to our three children. When the kids were young, we’d pack them in the car, drive three hours to the beach, and spend the day under an umbrella watching our sweet littles build sand castles, play “Gilligan’s Island” in our inflatable boat, search for sharks’ teeth, and play in the surf. At the end of the day, we’d load everyone up again, and enjoy talking about the day while the three kids slept all the way back home.
As the kids grew, the beach continued to be our go-to spot for vacations. Sometimes these trips included extended family, creating memories with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. On one particular trip, we rented a beach house on the coast of North Carolina with my sister’s family. Since she was a scientist and I was a nurse, we were excited when we found a small, dead shark on one of our walks with the kids. Like a high school biology teacher preparing her class for a lab dissection, she began teaching the kids all about sharks, her contagious enthusiasm flowing. Nathan, our fearless adventurer, proudly posed for a picture with the shark. (See gallery below.)
Even when the kids were in college, we headed to the beach together. On each trip, we took long walks, swam in the ocean, watched spectacular sunrises or sunsets, explored towns or points of interest nearby, enjoyed the pool and jacuzzi, basked in the sun, played board games, watched movies, and just relaxed. I have so many wonderful memories.
On Nathan’s twenty-fifth birthday, we accompanied him to Virginia Beach to see him off on his coast-to-coast trip. Although a fierce wind met us because of an approaching hurricane, we still walked the beach, celebrated his birthday and made some special memories. Before dawn the next morning, we hugged him and saw him off on his adventure. After he arrived in California, we joined him for a few days at that ocean too.
The first time I visited a beach after he was gone was HARD. But now, the warm memories are a comfort to me, still hard, but a welcomed reminder of how special those times were. Those events happened, mattered, and impacted my life—and I’m thankful.
Where is your “happy” place? — the place where your family memories are most vivid. Have you returned there since your child left? I hope that someday you will be able to go to that spot that is yours and find solace in the precious memories that will remain with you forever.
I have one more reference to beaches that I’d like to share with you today. A year or so after Nathan went to Heaven, Megan discovered something amazing— an artist’s rendering of a young man walking on the beach with Jesus. If you knew Nathan and if you take a look at this link, you’ll see that except for the length of hair, this picture looks just like him, right down to the gray hoodie he loved to wear. When I see this picture I imagine Nathan at his favorite place, walking with Jesus and finally understanding the events that took place on earth, knowing he is fully loved by His Creator, and experiencing the glory of eternity just a bit ahead of the rest of us.
John 14: 1-3 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”
