Back towards the beginning of summer I wrote about how fun it would be to do a vacation day where I live. Today was that day. We had friends in from out of town and started the day by heading to the beach for a couple hours before going home to change, eat lunch at a local sandwich shop, and then head to the Norfolk Botanical Gardens.
I have to say it was a fun day. The beach was amazing. The water was perfect and my children are starting to enjoy the beach more and more. I spent a lot of time out in the water this morning. The most I have all year and it was great. I told my wife today that when our friends with only one child visit I feel we use them a bit to watch our kids. The odds are even now, four on four.
The most fun part about the beach were the thoughts that came to me while floating. At one point I glanced back at my family while I was out there floating in the sea and thought this must be how gods feel. I was thinking at first of Poseidon and whatever mortal children he had had, but then I started to think of the Christian god. This would answer the question of why bad things happen to good people. God can have big impacts but the small ones he is too far away to get there in time. God is like a person floating in the sea looking back at their family on the shore.
As much fun as the beach was lunch was almost just as good. We went to a small sandwich shop that told us it would be 40 minutes for them to make a sandwich because they were crowded. I didn’t believe them because they weren’t crowded and it’s a sandwich. It took us about 15 minutes to get our order and it was delicious. I have to say I want to try some of their bigger sandwiches the next time I go. All I’ve gotten is the smaller sandwiches and now I know they have big ones I want to try that. There is just something about a good sandwich in a seaside city.
After that it was on to the Botanical Gardens during the true heat of the day. Our children were all too hot the moment we got out of the car and it only got worse. The fountains in the kids garden were down and the sun was unrelenting. We walked the shade and saw the art exhibit their and then headed back to the visitor’s center to catch the tram tour which I had never done. It was nice to hear some facts about the gardens and know how big they truly are.
There is a lot more to say about what we learned at the gardens today but that will have to wait for another night. If I remember.
David Huzzard Writes 