Girls (and Sharks?) on the Sound

August 3, 2012 § 9 Comments

Lying in my sick-bed feeling all sorts of phlegmy, I looked out my window to the sprawling Long Island Sound and noticed the faintest splashing blip looking all sorts of familiar.

The blip was daughter A, first-born Sophie, easily recognizable in her red and blue life-preserver, but way far out in the sea. She was kicking her feet behind Macy (age seven) who was kneeling on a paddle board and expertly stroking her way perpendicular to the shore.

To the far right was daughter B, second born Grace (not as fearless as her sister), being pulled in an inner tube by her dad whilst sitting close to Macy’s sister Ruby (age nine).

I resisted the urge to run out to the beach and yell something like this:

“That water is over six feet deep! You are over six feet deep! The weatherman says to stay closer to shore! There are sharks on the Cape! I don’t want you to be eaten! Get out! Get out! Get out!”

It is true that there are Great White Sharks on the Cape this summer and people have been bitten!

Not eaten, no, but still…

There were baby seals all up and down the rocky Maine beaches that were most certainly fleeing from those enormous and mysterious creatures.

But I, as energetic as a baby seal who’d just finished swimming for her life, am too sick to run anywhere. If there really was a shark out there I could only hope that Brian would fight it off, protecting all the little ladies with all his might so that the girls could safely swim to shore.

I could only hope.

Sophie kicked and kicked as Macy expertly guided their board. I was astonished by the ease in which she switched her paddle’s grip from left hand to right.

I watched as Sophie reached and stretched her body throwing one leg up onto the board, then two, before kneeling to ride behind Ms. Macy; the two of them out there like kick ass little women on the ocean, in the sun, free like birds and cool like cucumbers.

Brian pulled a long red cord that maneuvered Grace and Ruby around and around and around in swishy circles and now that they were all in my direct view, it seemed that they were agreeing on a plan to head toward land.

I sat back relieved that they would be home soon and within moments the slap of the front screen door alerted me to their arrival.

In our kitchen stood four brown berried bodies dripping heaps of water onto the floor while digging ferociously into a bag of honey pretzels.

I didn’t mind.

They were happy.

And wet.

And hungry.

So I fed them as many carbohydrates as their bodies could consume and they are again back out there on the Sound giving me a moment to rest and watch and feel thankful.

Thankful for kick ass little girls and for my cold (it really is a horrendous cold) that gave them this experience today.

The view from my bed. That blip in front of the boat would be Sophie and Macy…

Related posts:

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  2. Girls in the Sun
  3. Girls
  4. Procrastinate No More; Christmas Presents for Little Girls

Tagged: colds, great white sharks, Kids and Family, letting go, maine beaches, Mommyland, paddle boarding, shark attack, white sharks

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