she held his hand tightly as they chased the retreating waves.

but when the waves returned and crashed against the cove in the dusk, nature's spectacles demanded respect as the thundering sounds
rattled his tiny heart as he clinched her hand tighter.

his face, taut with every muscle pulling backwards that made his eyes squint as the crashing of the waves created tiny raindrops that misted
all over him.

She looked at him and smiled as she gave his little hand a squeeze to assure him that he was safe.

She remembered her first wave that scared her witless yet etched a permanant love of the ocean in her soul.

the ocean had never been far from her throughout her life for she always lived near it.

the spirit that became alive each time she visited the ocean made her felt young and vibrant.

As the ocean calmed herself again, she strolled back with him to where the waves could no longer scare him .

The skyline shined with residual radiance of the setting sun. Across the ocean she steered his sight toward where the sky kissed the water. Each color
brilliantly layered and entwined with one another that excited his tiny mind.

his face, grinning with delight as his eyes widened absorbing this wonder of nature as he sighed an unbeknownst sigh to him at the time that he only
later realized was a sigh of appreciative wonderment.

Soon, the heavens replaced the colors with darkness but dressed it with the stars and the moon.

She knew it would've been full moon that night because she wanted his first experience to be just as special as hers.

Luna's soft beam illuminated against the silky sand creating a silhouette of the two of them...

hers towering over his even though she was only 4'-11ish...

the two shadows contrasted yet melted together as if in Picasso's paintings.

the cold crisp splashes of the water hit the shore as some of it sprinkled against their legs and awakened their tired
bodies.

the soft moist sand slowly evaporated the fragrance of the beach under the moonlit sky.

She showed him Orion in the night sky as she told him the tale of the uneventful hunter and how he came to be in the sky.

his face, aglow and his eyes sparkled with delight and the tale of the hunter engraved deeply within him the love for mythology that
would ensue him for the the rest of his life.

She told him that there are many different beaches in the four corners of the world and that it awaited him.

from the Cape Town in South Afraica to the immaculate reefs of Australia, from the dusk of Iceland to the sunrise
of the pacific islands. All these places awaited him to explorer.

She told him she dreamt of touching the seal pups while roaring with the polar bears, she dreamt of walking with the
penguins while being splashed by the sea lions. And she told him to always keep his dream alive for that will keep hers, as well....

Even though she's never been to most of those places, she asked him to read about them, to seek them out whenver he could...
she made him the captain of her voyages and made him promise to tell her about it wherever he would visit.

he reached out his tiny pinky and locked it with hers...a promise made witnessed by the moon,stars,ocean, and the sand...

the cobalt sand was soft and tingling beneath their feet as they started to head back.

She told him the tale of her childhood from years ago where her mother took her to this beach for the first time.

when the waves crashed at her feet under the same full moon and stars lit night that made her
high and mesmerized...

she smiled at him and told him that even though she was older, he made her felt young and that he would keep her young by remembering this night
for the rest of his life...

then she asked him to chase her footprints as she let go of his hand and sprinted....

laughter followed as he stepped all over her prints that are forever imprinted into his heart...

for my grandmother, who would've been 91 this year...