This past weekend I had a very fortunate opportunity. No, I did not go to Chelsea Clinton's wedding. I did something better, I went to the beach. When you live in DC going to the beach is a daunting task. It's not a quick trip down the road or an hour drive away, it's a 3 hour trip...if you're lucky. This time around I was not so lucky with the travel time and averaged about a 5 hour trip there and a 4.50 hour trip on the way back.
But it's worth it.
After a crazy week of working until 11 o'clock four nights in a row it was time to break the routine and escape for a weekend. With sunny skies overhead, a full tank of gas and our beach chairs in the trunk, my girlfriend and I headed to Dewey Beach, DE.
Saturday afternoon was our day in the sun. We set up shop around 12 pm and the plan was to not move until the lifeguards left for the day, (around 5 pm). In between my magazine reading and napping I did one of my most favorite activities, people watching. My eyes danced between groups of families, teenagers, couples and those who were just hanging solo. The beach really is a slice of Americana. If someone from another country visited any beach in the US they would experience all ends of the spectrum when it comes to understanding American people. This is why I love the beach. You will always find the following people on a beach:
1. The perfect family: Mom, Dad, little boy and little girl. All of them dressed very well.
2. The teenage mob: Teens too young to drive but old enough to start trouble and be annoying.
3. The insane family, (usually seated within close proximity to me): Loud, lots of equipment and require a 20' radius to hold all of their stuff. Lots of kids running around, usually a set of grandparents in tow that can't really help watch the kids and just sit in their beach chairs, followed by a very loud mom who usually has a questionable accent which leads to a game of, "what city do you think they're from?"
4. The young couple in love: Gag!
5. The old couple in love: Cute!
6. The odd couple: Woman who refuses to take her shirt and shorts off when going in the water paired with a man who wears way too small swimming trunks and is in need of a back wax. The guy on the beach yesterday looked like he was wearing a vest...backwards.
7. The group of party girls: young, quiet b/c they're hungover, usually have a towel over their heads and a cooler with lots of water.
8. The two guys who are watching the group of party girls above.
9. The super loud, foul mouthed, cigarette smoking, crotch grabbing, white trash group of 20-somethings that of course have to sit right next to me.
10. The two single girls who are taking all of this in: that would be me.
I find the behavior and conversations from these groups of people truly fascinating. In one afternoon I learned so much from all of them just by listening and watching. The white trash group of 20-somethings next to me all live at home. Apparently they do drugs in one of the kids bedrooms when the parents are at home, too. The kid is convinced that his parents have no clue he's doing drugs in his bedroom with his girlfriend, but the girlfriend thinks otherwise. She thinks they are aware of the situation but just pretend to be in the dark.
The group of party girls got a sweet deal on the beach chairs they rented. They ended up getting them all for free b/c one of the girls worked at the chair and umbrella stand a few summers ago. She did it along with running a babysitting enterprise. Yes, she used the phrase enterprise. She would watch like 8 kids at a time and when she was in a pinch she sometime had to ask her friend Erica who didn't like kids and wasn't good at babysitting. But she made enough money in one summer to pay for her tuition for a semester.
The perfect family was just that, perfect. The kids were cute, they didn't talk back and everyone had fun. Maybe it was the margaritas that mom made that kept mom and dad calm and collected the whole day? I know that she made awesome margaritas because she offered me one. I guess I looked thirty? Dad made a kick ass walrus in the sand, too. They looked like they could be on the cover of J.Crew. I liked sitting next to them.
So with all of this craziness that occurs at the beach, why are we drawn to it every summer?
I have the answer to this question: Because it never changes and it never will.
The beach will always be just that, the beach. It will never evolve or become more technologically advanced or sophisticated. You go to the beach once and you've got it figured out. If you hadn't been to the beach in the past 10 years and then decided to go one day you would know exactly what to pack, what to wear and what to expect. That's why we like it, we know what to expect.
With the exception of colors and textiles, very few things have changed for the beach. The beach chair hasn't really changed, nor has the cooler or the beach towel. In fact some of the toys that the J.Crew family was playing with were just like the toys I played with at the beach. A shovel, a pail and one of those starfish molds. Seriously.
I think that's why I like the beach so much. It reminds me of childhood and simpler times. The beach will always be simple. It doesn't matter what your life is like during the week, at some point all of us desire, (and require), some simplicity. A place with no cell phones, laptops or Outlook reminders and the only tweeting you hear is the sound of the lifeguard's whistle telling you it's time to get out of the water.
Summer goes by fast. Enjoy every second of sunshine that falls on your face and return it with a smile.
