We have put on over 10,000 steps today and my feet are filthy. I’ve watched my little girl balance on logs, scurry across rocks and fly on a homemade swing in a tree — she sparkles with the glitter of childhood uncomplicated. She is dappled with the scuffs of her adventures, she is freckled with wonder. Her hair wisps around her head and her smile seems permanently etched on her face. This kid has had a summer vacation most of us can only dream about – she doesn’t have a care in the world.
Mudge is magical – it’s casting a spell on me at this very moment. My daily shower can wait until tomorrow, my mascara can stay in my bag – nobody notices or cares what I look like behind my sunglasses.
At this moment I’m sitting on a log at the beach – an area that connects two islands together – the link is walkable when the tide is out. There are no crashing waves on this sheltered bay – the water’s rhythm is hypnotic – I could easily be lulled to sleep but I’m afraid to miss a minute of magic.
My son and his little girl are sharing a comic book – they are sprawled on a rock and making it look like a featherbed.
I don’t know what I was expecting as we made our way towards Mudge – I had been told it was rustic and relaxed. I wondered if our granddaughter would greet us in the fashion of a character from Lord of the Flies but it seems we docked on Neverland (second star to the right and straight on till morning) but this little girl is anything but a lost boy. She seems perfectly at home.
Apparently she asked her dad on their walk home from the beach the other day if this was in fact a dream. “For reals, daddy, is it?” He asked her what sort of dream it would be if it was. “The best,” she replied.
It is like a dream, and I’m thrilled to be dreaming it with her – if only for a couple of days. I’ve watched her skip rocks with her Papa. I watched as they peered into tide pools and tickled anemones. She has jars filled with treasures placed around the cabin; sea glass, shells and special stones — the beach is yielding a bumper crop this summer and she has been busy harvesting it.
We met the neighbor’s dog, Waffles, but haven’t crossed paths with another person on our adventures today. I’m okay with this solitude, this quiet, it magnifies the magic.
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LOVE IT!