The last time we went to Rehoboth Beach, DE, Axton was only a few months old. It was September, and I was learning how to take care of a baby. Simply put, life was hard. I was carrying extra pounds I wasn’t used to…and carrying an extra person I wasn’t used to, either. When we got to Rehoboth, I donned that swimsuit anyway and ran straight for the water. It was cold but, as always, the ocean cured something in me. I always feel renewed when I go to the ocean. There is something so powerful, so magical about the waves and the salt water. Something I’m always drawn to, inexplicable but dependable.

This time, I was carrying a whole lot more than just a few pounds and an extra child. This time I had a double-jogging stroller packed to the brim with people, food, towels, water, sunscreen, and everything else under the sun. It’s funny to compare who I am now to who I was the first time I discovered Rehoboth. Life is not easier these days, but it’s more understandable. I am in a better place now than I was then, and it makes me happy to say that.

We met our cousins at the beach and spent the day in the sun. The drive was a long one, with both kids crying by the time we hit hour one. I stopped at a roadside farmer’s market to use their porta-potty. They convinced me, without even saying a word, to buy some fresh peaches and homemade strawberry rhubarb jam. The kids needed the break and the stretch of legs.

We burned the bottoms of our feet and ate sandwiches on towels, splashed in the salty water and ran screaming from the waves. It was a day that smelled and tasted of summer, one of those days that makes everything good.