Midlife Traveling Mayhem

Why flags are important 

They hang colored flags on the beaches to warn swimmers of the daily water conditions. These flags are often overlooked, some not even knowing they are there at all. Green is good, yellow is fair, red is dangerous, and double red means do not enter. I must be honest and admit that I didn’t really ever pay that much attention myself, until one day…  

I am a beach girl. I will go any day, any weather. The weather was cool and windy, but the sun felt good on the sand. The beach we went to that day had a narrow strip of sand. They were fishing on the shore while I was sitting on the beach reading my book and relaxing. Minding my own business. The waves were crashing hard and the surf was high. My daughter was standing beside me facetiming my mom. I was sitting crisscross when a wave came out of nowhere and washed me up.  Literally, washed me completely off my towel, ruined my book, and almost washed the bag away that had our truck key in it. The water was cold and took my breath away.  My husband was freaking out about the key. My daughter hung up with our only lifeline and ran to the edge of the shore. She almost stepped on the skeleton of some creature, so she started freaking out. There are pages from my book floating out to sea.  

 There was a small craft advisory and rip current warning that day. If you haven’t guessed by now, it was a double red flag day also. Yes, of course, I went back to the beach and yes, I finished the book. Good news, the lost pages were ones I had already read. Bad news, I had to finish reading it outside because I had to shake the sand out every time I turned the page.  

Lesson of the day: don’t take a paper book to the beach!