The sun hangs low in a melancholy sky as I walk along this gentle shore, the lonely cry of the seagull my only companion. Shore birds scatter and flitter away on agile wings when I venture close, as footprints mark my path in the sand. The sound of the waves lapping the shore lulls me and I let my thoughts drift.

Here is a paradise of golden sand and the infinite blue of the sea. Majestic dunes cradle its shores like a mother’s embrace, the landscape ever changing with the tides. The stately lighthouse stands guard, it’s light a beacon to call us home.

Today the shore is gentle, but I love all her moods; the still calm, the pounding surf, the ferocity of the storm. She is beautiful in the soft light of morning and when bathed in the radiance of day’s end.

This is the beach of my childhood. On these sandy shores I have frolicked in the surf and combed the beach for rare treasures. I have sat with friends around a flickering fire as we shared secrets under a sky of stars. I smile as memories rain down upon me and dance away on the wind.

I have raised my children on these shores. Warm, summer days of building sandcastles and long, lazy walks by the water’s edge. Driving home with sleepy smiles and sun kissed cheeks. Those long, languid days seem to last forever, yet they were never long enough.

The ghosts of summer walk with me now. Soon the world will turn its head towards the cool, crisp days of fall and the earth will be resplendent in its coat of red, orange and gold. The beach will be forgotten for another year and my footprints in the sand will be washed away with the tide.