messy, sticky, beautiful

                                              {july 4th}

On the fourth of july I was able to go to Cannon Beach with my cute little family.  My parents were in town as well as my good friend Lora.  

We had lunch at Mo's, a seafood restaurant right on the beach.  The view was amazing.  I decided to order fish n' chips.  I hate fish.  I thought maybe seafood would taste better if I was closer to the source.  It didn't.  The marionberry cobbler David and I shared for dessert- that was amazing.  (Or maybe I thought it was amazing because I choked down fish for lunch)?  

Immediately after lunch I was stung by a bee.  It hurt.  A lot.  I took some benedryl and walked around the beach with an ice pack on my arm.  Not how I pictured my day.  David and Hazel played in the water as I iced my arm.  I loved watching Hazel enjoy her first time at the ocean.  She loved jumping the waves.  In fact, she still pretends to jump the waves at home sometimes.  I brought my camera to take pictures but forgot to check the batteries... dead.  Cell phone it was.  

The benedryl made me groggy and as I walked down the beach I felt as though I were in a dream.  This perfect day I had planned out just wasn't happening.  You know what though?  The day was still pretty perfect.  Life is so not perfect but yet it is... that is the beauty of it.  

When I look back on that day it really doesn't matter that I hated my lunch.  I tried something new and I was with people that I love.  It doesn't matter that I was doped up on benedryl.  It probably made me less stressed when Hazel tried running into the ocean by herself.  Five billion times.  

If life always went according to plan it would be pretty boring.  This applies not only to trips to the beach but the everyday things.  Sometimes there are piles of laundry on the floor and dishes in the sink (more than sometimes at my house) and that is okay.  That is real life.  It is sticky and messy and beautiful.  When I look back though, I mostly see the beautiful.