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Sheila Burke's Column
Okay, so we’re in Boca Raton, FL. The kids have been bickering since we arrived at the airport to leave. From home. Every single look somehow warranted a smart ass remark from one of the others. And every sentence uttered earned a snotty reply. Every eye roll, every glance was a personal assault. Ahhh, it was paradise. Three teens and a mom on vacation on the other end of the country. A total sparring match from start to finish. A great way to spend a butt load of money. NOT.
There were good times, don’t get me wrong. I’d say they only hated each other about 80% of the time. It was mostly the girls. The boy tried his best, like me…to get through it. I like to sum up their issues in this way:
One had sinus pressure.
One had cramps.
One had sisters.
The beach at Boca was beautiful! We arrived in the seaside city about 5 pm and went directly to the beach less than 1/4 mile away. It was $16 to park (I KNOW!) but the attendant took one look at me on the verge of my first nervous breakdown and waved me through saying, go ahead and stay as long as you wish, no charge.
The first thing we saw upon entering the beach was a big yellow sign warning of sea lice. BONUS! It’s like free souvenirs! A dip and a body full of sea lice. Awesome. But we had no issues with sea lice thank God.
Another cool thing on this stretch of beach was the protection of endangered sea turtles. There were nests EVERYWHERE with eggs buried in the sand! You’ll notice in my pics, these are marked by pink caution tape all along the beach. At night people residing along the beach are not allowed to keep their back lights on after dark because it will encourage the turtles to approach the light. Wild!
The morning after we arrived, we went back to the beach early to eat breakfast and to swim. Well, I didn’t swim. Being of the germ-a-phobe persuasion….the fear of the aforementioned sea lice kept me out of the water. lol. Of course, I let the kids go in. What better repayment for bad attitudes than a little sea lice? (just kidding)
There were a ton of people exercising on the beach. And a few taking a tae chi class which was cool. But seeing people doing push ups and sit ups just made my mind wander to ‘lots’ of sand in unseen crevices.’ I bet it takes longer to pick the sand out of their cracks than it does to exercise. Just sayin. Yuck, lol.
Anyhow, the weather was balmy with a beautiful breeze on the beach. My iced coffee kept me company while I watched the kids play in the water and laugh and get pummeled by the warm waves. The straw in my cup was coated with the taste of sea salt from the mist in the air. Watching them having fun and giggling brought back days of long ago when they were little. And, of course I had to keep waving my hand for them to come in closer. No matter how old they are…I’m still their mom.
