Page 15 - Publishing Inspiration Christmas Card 2022

The younger children started pestering me. “Are we almost
there yet?” Scott was especially vocal.
To distract them, I told them to keep a watch and try to be the
first to see it. Finally, we went through a short tunnel, and there was
the ocean. It wasn’t a very big beach, probably no more than fifty
yards long, but it was a beach, nonetheless. The younger children
started clamoring for me to stop as if we would never see another
one.
“Daddy,” Scott said, “it’s the beach. We need to stop.”
I answered him teasingly. “That’s so small it’s just a son of a
beach. Perhaps we should go to a big one.”
My wife, Donna, smacked my shoulder. “You shouldn’t say
those things to the kids. You never know what they’ll say.”
I had in mind to go to a bigger beach, but the excitement in
our rented motorhome grew to the point I had to stop. The older
children ran for the beach while Donna and I gathered up the smallest
children, along with a myriad of beach towels, diaper bags, and other
things we would need. We then hurried after them.
The children played there for hours. We never did go to a
bigger beach. They were contented just to be on the ocean. We
watched the sun set, then finally went back to the motorhome. We
went to beaches many more times on our vacation, but the little
children relished that first visit the most.
After we got home from our vacation, we went to church. An
older gentleman asked Scott what his favorite part of the vacation
was.
Scott got excited as he answered. “My favorite part was
visiting the son of a beach.”
The man’s eyes grew wide with shock. And as I tried to
explain, Donna smacked my shoulder again. “I told you that you
shouldn’t say things like that to the children.”

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