Sand Castles

Do you remember as a child, spending hours at the beach digging in the sand?  Sometimes just digging a hole, to just dig, maybe thinking you could reach China?  Or building a sand castle by the waters' edge to have a wave come crash it down?  Or digging a mote, around the castle, that leads to the water, and running back and forth trying to fill it fast enough that for just a moment the water stood still and the mote was filled? 

Do you ever feel that life is like building sand castles?  It seems that way to me lately.  Spending hours on end cleaning, or working, or teaching or disciplining children, paying one bill after another sometimes not seeing an end insight.  Though sometimes not just as fun is it? I guess it can be though. It all depends on how you see it.  As an opportunity to try again, or an opportunity to cry and say why me and go running away. 

Sometimes it seems that like the waves coming in hard, and basically wiping the slate clean and flat, life gives us opportunities to get up and try again.  Maybe something totally different.  Its at those moments when you got to choose your attitude and what you are going to do with it. 

I'd like to say I'm the one that always sees it as an opportunity to try again, but sometimes I do sit and pout and wonder why me....but not too much.  I truly believe things happen for a reason. And love being able to look back and think, well that really was a tiny castle, or not a very deep hole, this time its going to be bigger and better. 

Its funny though no matter what your attitude is,  it seems that sometimes in life there are people like the waves, that just like to creep up and smash your hard work and tear down your castles.  And like the waves they really are unaware of what they are doing, rather they are just doing what they always do, coming in and going out.  Totally set in their own motion.  Truly unaware that they possibly could be making the wreckage on the shore. 

So I guess the best thing to do sometimes, is to pick up your toys, and go further up the beach, out of the reach of the waves.  Grab a bucket, run to the water, fill it and bring it back to the dry sand, and start building over.  Its just safer that way. 

Come November we will have a clean slate again, and though I am not sure what lies ahead, I know that this next little hole and sand castle is going to be an adventure and we survived the last (with out too much sand in our eyes.) Though every once in awhile a little wind gust will blow some sand from the previous castle, stinging a little....but you move on because you have a sand castle to build or a really big hole to dig! And you just don't have time to worry about the wave coming to get you.  

Happy sand digging!