2.25.2013

as the ocean air fanned the flames

Ethan woke up on Sunday with a cold. I've come to dread that initial first sneeze, the first sniffle, the first word from a just slightly hoarse enough voice to make my heart start to sink with dread. Just please don't let this go to his lungs. And so far it hasn't, which is something I've feared jinxing by putting into words, but I'm trying to simply have hope. You know, hope in the twice-daily corticosteroids that we've managed to squeeze into our routine just before breakfast and just before bedtime.

Like all native South Floridians, I'm convinced that there are healing powers in the beach. There's nature's medicine permeating through the salt air and nothing but goodness in each tiny of grain of sand, in each splash of saltwater against your skin. A sick day means a beach day, means traipsing through the fluffy early morning sand underneath the bright, blue morning sky. It means Ethan's little hands coated in wet sand, munching on an orange as juice drips down his chin. It means a nose like a faucet and somewhere in that, the present hope that all of the germs will fall victim to the magical healing powers of the salt air.

We've spent the past two mornings at the beach until the afternoon sun becomes too unbearably hot to stand. A typical Florida winter, a usual February in Palm Beach county. I find my optimism in the fact that the beach is here, it's ours whenever we need it, the warm salt air clearing out Ethan's nasal passages faster than we can keep pulling saline wipes from the packaging. It's here whenever a cold hits for those meandering morning walks in the sand, his little hand in mine. It's easy to find hope when the world around us is so beautiful and the air is so warm and fresh.

8 comments:

  1. I am so darn jealous of your trips to the beach!

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  2. I hope Ethan is feeling better soon. That picture of him in his Mickey board shorts is too adorable. I, too, am jealous of your beach. We're lucky if the pool is able to be open for a solid two months in the summer here.

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  3. It looks like y'all had so much fun at the beach! Ethan is adorable!!

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  4. Thanks for sharing the beautiful ocean pictures with your son. I linked up with you at Taingamala today.

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