All these photos were taken on the same patch of beach during a two hour stretch of time, during a homeschool co-op beach day.  It’s amazing to be on the beach while storms roll past: In all directions around us, the sky darkens and brightens as storms move through, rain in the distance shifts in location and intensity, colors change from deep, dark blue to bright sun to diffused post-storm light, and the clouds reflect beautifully over the ocean and in the tide pools.  Sometimes our patch of beach stays protected from the rain, and sometimes, like on this day, the storm greets us.  Just a few days prior we went to this exact spot and were met with a blue cloudless sky, hot sun, strong waves and high tide.  On this day, it was completely different, with clouds, breeze, rain, low tide and gentle water.  That’s why I love the beach– it’s never the same, always moving, always changing, always offering me new things to be amazed by.

Although I’d like to say we have done this family-running-around-the-beach a lot in the weeks since Matt’s been home, and that life is blissful and amazing all the time now that we are back together, it just wouldn’t be true.  In truth we have had a mix of ups and downs with readjusting to life as a family, the constraints of work/sleep/schedule/time/decision-making, and trying to find our (umm, maybe it’s mostly MY) openness to life as it is now.  I guess I had it all figured out in my head that having Matt back would mean going back to the way it was before deployment, during that time when our purpose was to make our time together as amazing as possible as we moved toward being apart (and for some reason I always seem to remember the past as being much awesomer than it actually was).  Yet now it seems things are different in this new phase of life, and we are back to the trials and joys of learning to be together as a couple and a family, of being vulnerable, of speaking up for what we want, of letting go of control, of listening and compromising, of waking up to expectation and resentment, of remembering how to be human and connect with another person.  Having him back, for me, is another wave to ride in my life, a wave that takes time to re-figure out but that I am certain we will remember how to ride.

Matt had 2 weeks off recently after returning home from deployment.  We didn’t go on any cruises or fancy vacations, but enjoyed being home with movies and video games, working out together, walks and woods, good meals and tasty drinks, shopping, touring, and a whole lot of fishing.  Matt discovered that fishing has the potential to be a fun and successful hobby here in this place that is filled with water and life, so we gathered supplies and went adventuring to different local fishing spots.  There seems to be a lot more to learn about the sport to be successful at it, but it got us out exploring new places and learning about our area in a whole new way.  Hopefully there will be more time in our life for hours of chilling with fishing poles now that Matt is back to work.

We said good-bye to the ocean with Jean on her last night here.  We went at sunset to watch the magic of the water and sky, and it was very good indeed.  I want to remember to get out of my house and witness the sunset more often, because it’s worth it.

We will surely miss you, Mama Jean.

Just some photos today of our little back-together family and Matt’s mom during her visit, checking out Jacksonville tourist spots.  No photos of the spot themselves, I’m sorry to say!  I guess I love those faces more than the places.

It’s nicknamed Boneyard Beach, and it is truly spectacular.  I can’t wait to go back.

Us, together again at the beach.  Thanks to Matt’s mom for capturing us while we played.

Matt’s mom, Jean, during her visit here in late March, loved being at the beach, even on the chilly days that happened while she was here.  She came here for rest and recovery, and I hope in ways the beach offered it to her.  At the very end of her visit she finally got that shark’s tooth she was constantly hunting for, thanks to Matt’s luck and good eye.  I kept bringing her to different parts of the shoreline, to the part where the shells are, the part where the jetty is, the part where the sand goes up into dunes and where it goes down into ponds, the part with the fancy houses, and the one with the driftwood.

There are several random photos in this post, as you can see.  Jean took some of those and I wanted to share them– the pelicans are everywhere around here and I thought it was a cool photo, and I like that one of me because it looks like she captured how I was feeling at the time– anxious, frustrated, and tense while waiting impatiently for Matt to return home.