On Opposite Sides of the Ocean

(Earlier this week I posted this on the Cuyos family blog. Now I've decided this belongs in my own blog, too, so I'm reposting the edited version)

One of my fondest memories from my childhood was spending almost every weekend at the beach. That just seems like the natural thing to do when you grow up on a tropical island and when your maternal grandparents live close to the beach. I remember swimming with my siblings and cousins in the placid waters of the sea. Not quite like the violent, adrenalin pumping surf of the waters on this side of the globe. My parents watched us, of course, but for the most part we splashed around uninhibited. I remember playing my heart out during the day. I also remember eating a lot. Somehow I always associate going to the beach with grilled fish and steaks. On the ride home my brothers and sisters and I would fall asleep and next thing we knew we were in bed dreaming happy dreams of endless sunny days. It was a carefree, fun and happy time in my life. The sense of well-being I felt then is partly recreated for me when I go to the beach now that I am an adult. I'm sure it is the same for my brothers and sisters, too.

This is an old photo from those days. From the left, that's my uncle with my brother, my aunt with my sister, then there's Me squinting at the camera when I was about 4 years old, and behind me is my Dad.

This summer I was able to spend time on a beach in Southern California with my kids and husband and his extended family. It's their family vacation spot since my husband and his siblings were young. Now the vacationing family includes in-laws, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Very comfortably reminiscent of my own family beach excursions.

While at the beach I didn't splash around in the surfy waters, because I'm just not that carefree anymore. I do not like being swallowed by the waves, rolled and regurgitated, then spat out back onto the shore, all wet, disheveled and blotchy-skinned. The adult me prefers walking around taking pictures with my camera or just sitting on a comfortable chair in a pretty sundress :-) watching everyone else play in the water. But believe it or not, I still had the best time of my summer.

Meanwhile, eight thousand miles across from me on the opposite side of the Pacific Ocean, my brother and his family were also spending vacation time enjoying the beach.

Here are pictures of my brother, my sister-in-law and their kids in Moalboal (pronounced Moo-ahl-Boo-ahl), a resort on the island of Cebu in the Philippines.

Here are photos of me and my family in Southern California.

One day soon, we hope, our families will be able to spend time together on the same beach on the same side of the earth. My brother probably will not like the surfy waters of Southern California :-) but he'll get used to it and learn to like it like I did. If he doesn't, well, then it will be like old times. I'll just tell him to snap out of it because I'm the boss. I'm firstborn and he's the baby, and what I say goes :-) (Just kidding, Bro!)

How about you? Do you like going to the beach?

This is me at the beach when I was a toddler sitting on my Great Grand Aunt's lap fiddling with my orange soda.