Have I ever mentioned how much I love the beach? Probably. We’re now camped at the beach just west of El Segundo CA, where I grew up and spent many, many – too many – hours baking in the sun on the beach, body surfing, hanging out with friends. The sand is the perfect texture and color, and the water is the perfect temperature, with ideal waves for body surfing, and the breeze is just strong and cool enough without being too strong or cool, and the culture on the beach is as familiar to me as my own family. This is the place on earth where all my molecules are at home and I feel the best.

We’re here for my high school class reunion tomorrow night. This is not the 40th or the 50th or anything like that. No, our class in general had a good time in high school and still likes to get together, and we’re blessed to have two, well, party girls – Patty and April – who do the work to make the arrangements and get us together, as well as a larger group of helpers who support them. This one is our “Medicare-Eligible Reunion” – we’re all turning 65 this year.

So as a pre-party to the reunion tomorrow, we invited the class to come out to where we’re camped on the beach and join us for a cook-out and later a bonfire on the beach. We picked up lots of wood from Cheryl’s when we stopped in Reno, and she brought more when she drove down. Fortuitously, just before we left Bellevue our friend Mike gifted us with a beautiful Gränsfors Splitting Hatchet for the RV that Patrick put to good use chopping wood for the barbeque as well as kindling for the bonfire.

So good to see everyone! and talk as though 47 years have not passed since graduation, except that now we’re more comfortable with our own selves.

As it began getting dark, Patrick built a huge fire in one of the firepits on the beach, where we used to come with our families as kids and later with our friends as teenagers.

We roasted marshmallows and ate S’mores – yum! Such a good time, in spite of one narrow escape: in the dark Cyd bumped into the outer edge of the firepit and lost her balance and would have gone right into the fire if Patrick hadn’t leaped across and pushed her away. Thank God for his quick thinking and action – that could have been a horrible tragedy.