The bright, blinding sun flashed into my gleaming green eyes as I strolled along the beach so familiar to me. Suddenly, I was engulfed in a strong sense of comfort and lightfulness mixed with the smell of sea salt and ocean waves. I felt the grainy sand between my toes as a swift ocean breeze blew through my dark hair. The sun was setting. The bright myriad of colors shifted from the warm, bright colors of pinks and oranges to the cool colors of light blues and purples. The sunsets were always my favorite part of Cape Cod. I was completely at peace, I was calm, I was in my happy place, and I was honestly content. I closed my eyes to cherish and memorize this beautiful moment just as it was.
My tranquil thoughts were interrupted with a shout down the beach to my left. “Come on, Em!” the voice exclaimed. I turned around to the familiar face to see my twin sister, Catherine, gesturing me to the ocean. A grin spread across my face as Catherine held up two inner tubes above her head and moved them back and forth enthusiastically. I started to walk towards her. The beach was mostly empty, as a majority of the families had left to go have dinner. Catherine and I didn’t mind eating late if it meant having an empty beach all to ourselves. After relaxing in our tubes in the ocean, we usually would help gather up the piles of beach equipment that our family had and would help lug it back to our little cottage right near the beach. Eventually, I reached my twin and she handed me my aqua-colored tube. It felt coarse to the touch because it was coated in a layer of sand.
“Okay, let’s go,” I suggested, and dipped one of my feet into the approaching waves. The water was surprisingly warm as the sun had beat down on it all day. I smiled as Catherine dragged me deeper into the calming waves that surrounded me. When we waded deep enough, I jumped into my tube with very little grace and then settled in. There was barely any current on these tranquil Cape Cod waters, so I closed my eyes and tipped my head back. I enhanced my intake of the sounds around me. I heard distant seagulls cawing; I felt the soft splash of the waves against my tube; I heard the rush of waves racing up the beach and then receding. Time passed in an instant even though I couldn’t tell how long Catherine and I were out there. It could have been hours for all I knew. Finally, when the sun was about to set and the vibrant colors darkened, we jumped out of our tubes and pulled them back ashore. It felt weird being out of the ocean after we spent so long there. I glanced down at my shriveled fingers as we trudged up the beach, the sand sticking to our wet toes with each step.
Catherine and I ended up at our beach setup and plopped our tubes down in the sand. “Ready to go?” our mom inquired, looking up from her magazine.
“I think so,” I replied. “I’m getting hungry.”
“Yeah, me too,” Catherine agreed. However, the best part was that there was no rush at all to leave the beach.
“Do you want food from Clancy’s?” my mom asked, as she got up from her chair. “The usual order?”
We both nodded excitedly and started to haphazardly pack up our beach chairs, wring out the wet beach towels, and find items we had scattered along our area.
“Okay,” I called out as I grabbed as many items as I could, “Let’s go.” My flip flops hung from my fingers as we trudged towards the long wooden steps leading up to our beach cottage. They creaked with each heavy step I took, feeling the weight of all of the bags on my shoulders. The bags brushed up against the beach grass surrounding the staircase. Finally, we reached the top. I glanced back towards the place where I felt so much comfort. I sighed with satisfaction as the tip of the sun disappeared from view. However, the light that I felt from this day would never darken. I turned towards the familiar cottage with white shutters and I knew tomorrow these Cape Cod waves would still be there.