Day 9: Atlantic Beach, Part I

Friday, my ninth day at the beach started bright and early, at dawn. My eyes opened into total darkness at 6 and I slipped past my sleeping parents and into the clothes I had laid out the night before. 

Thursday night, we - my parents, Janet and Mike, and I - had arrived in Atlantic Beach a little later than we had hoped, but actually at the perfect time to enjoy a lazy sunset over Bogue Sound with some local brew before dinner.

My parents are summer babies, so I had been looking forward to taking them out to dinner to celebrate with both of them.

We sampled local cheese, shared a bottle of Albarino, and savored tapas with a decidedly beachy flair (hot crab dip and seafood mac and cheese = heaven). I so enjoy this time in my life where I can be both appreciative daughter and adult friend.

We have way too much fun together.

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The next morning, I crept down the street, the beach still asleep, the moon nearly full, hanging in the sky to my right.

It had been over eight months since my last sunrise at the beach. So much had changed since that spectacular event on Topsail Island. And yet, standing there, I was reminded that this happens every single day. No matter what's going on in my life.

That this is actually going on every hour in some part of the world.

I stood there, as she rose, my hair growing larger and more tangled by the moment, as the salty mist lifted and teased it. I walked to the water's edge, meditated on the pink reflected in the receding waves.

The sun drew higher into the sky as seven o'clock neared. I headed back to our room through the barely-roused streets.

And past a lone house blinking wearily in the early morning light at the edge of the sound.

My parents still slumbered, so I changed into my running clothes and headed out for four miles. Four miles weaving through streets with teal doors and hurricane shutters. Past the empty circle drive and and a few other walkers and runners. Past gradually more and more cars as the sleepy beach town awoke. Then back towards the room with the imagined taste of fresh coffee already on my tongue. Fresh coffee and a banana before heading back to the beach to play in the sun.