Shore
The waves gently ebbed against the sands of the beach, rolling in one after the other, a beautiful melody of their crashing every time. Seagulls cawed as they flew overhead, children giggled as they played in the sand, in the water. Splashing each other, throwing sand at each other, all smiling brightly in the setting sun.
Their show of happiness brought an even bigger smile to my face, and I held my wife next to me tighter as we walked along the shoreline, our feet sometimes getting wet as the tide came in. She smiled back and returned the embrace.
Two kids ran in front of us, almost running into us but not caring as they were too focused on their game of tag. We stopped suddenly to let them pass before continuing on our walk, our bare feet digging in to the cool, wet sand.
They reminded me of our own two kids; a boy and a girl who were being watched by their grandparents for the weekend while we celebrated our anniversary.
The sky was darkening rapidly, and the children were being called by their parents; time to leave. We sat down on the sand, a little farther away from the waterline so as to not get wet, and simply sat there, wrapped in each other’s embraces and watching the last remains of the sun before it completely disappeared on the horizon. The water sparkled with an orange glow, becoming a darker and darker hue as the sun continued downward.
Finally, the sun was gone, and we were left with just the aphotic waters, dotted with spots of white from the moon and stars that shown between the clouds.
The air became chilly, and I wrapped my arms around her tighter, sheltering her from the cold. I kissed the top of her head, pulling her in closer, and she snuggled up against my chest.
It was nearly an hour before I stirred; she had fallen asleep in my arms, but I knew we must be getting back to our hotel room. I gently shook her awake, and she opened her eyes slowly, a smile on her face as she looked up at me. I had always thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world, but somehow every day she seemed to become even more beautiful. I kissed her again and we slowly stood up together, joining hands and walking away from the shore.
A. Page in the Stacks 