Childhood by the Sea

  I don't think there is a single happy memory I have that doesn't involve the ocean and my family.  When I was really little, I remember we always went down to the beach together.  Every summer, never missed a year.  My dad and I would get our fishing rods (I had my kid-sized fishing rod) and we would get in our boat and ride alongside the beach.  My mom and my baby sister Lola would go searching for seashells...  We still have those seashells, three boxes of them.  Lola loved them.  We would do that from nine till about 12 in the afternoon.  Then we went to a gas station that was within walking distance, and we got a loaf of bread and some lunch meat, which we made our lunch with.  Then we  would go back to the beach and feed the rest of the loaf of bread to the seagulls.  We did that every time we went to the beach...  That is my truly happy memory with my family at the beach.  When we all stood on the dock with the seagulls swarming around us.
  Then, as my sister and I got older, we stopped caring...  I thought it was embarassing to be seen with my parents.  Then I got busy with school.  My parents quit altogether, taking us to the beach.
  I really regret now, how I acted back then.  My family and I had something we loved to do together... but it had to end sometime.  I had to grow up.  I had to go to college.  But I still always go back to my roots...  If only for the memories.