SKIP IT

It was a beautiful fall day and I was on my own. My husband Steven was out of town and my son Alex was meeting a friend for lunch.

“I’m not letting this day go to waste sitting inside.” I said to myself. So I scooped my car keys off the counter and decided to go to my favorite bagel shop, get a sandwich, then go to the beach.

As I was driving I had my windows down and was enjoying one of those perfect fall days that I would want to relive in the coming winter months.

Stopped at a traffic light I could smell someone had a fire pit burning. I took a deep breath. “Love it.” I said to myself before the light turned green.

Once I had my sandwich it was off to the beach where several other people seemed to have the same idea as me.

Sitting on the warm sand watching the waves roll in I could feel a sense of peace wash over me.

The beach has always been a happy place for me.

When I was finished I gathered up my garbage, brushed the sand off of me and headed back to my car.

Not yet ready to head home I decided to stop at another one of my favorite spots along a riverbank. When I pulled into the gravel parking lot I could see I had the place to myself. I couldn’t help but smile as I turned the car off and got out of the car.

It was low tide and the river was like glass. I walked over to the sandy shoreline to see that most of the moored sailboats had already been taken out of the water for the winter. I looked down and saw the perfect flat rock and picked it up.

“I wonder if I can still do it?” I asked myself as I tried to skip the rock across the surface of the water. It landed with a kerplop in the river. I looked around to see if I’d embarrassed myself in front of anyone.

“Nope. Try again.” I said as I looked around for another flat rock.

Getting down at just the right angle I let another one fly out of my hand only to have it sink again on the first contact.

“Come on!” I scolded myself. “I used to be really good at this.”

I scanned the beach for another rock. Found what I thought was the perfect one and let it sail out of my hand.

Another sinker.

“Okay, now I’m getting annoyed.” I found another one and with the flick of my wrist it skipped twice across the water before sinking.

“There you go!” I cried as I raised my arms in the air as if I were Rocky at the top of the stairs. But quickly stopped and once again looked around to see if anyone was watching.

Nope. Still alone.

I couldn’t help but smile as I headed back to my car and heard the cry of a seagull above me. “Did you see me skip that rock across the water?” I asked it as it circled past me and landed in the water. “Bet you can’t do that.”