I live at the beach. This hasn’t always been the case, however. A little over ten months ago I lived in the desert. In the Phoenix Valley in perpetually sunny Arizona to be exact. In Arizona it is always dry. Bone dry, mouth sticking dry, eye slamming shut and staying that way dry, tenderly watered and beloved grass going brown and sharp– dry. Well, enough of that. You get the point.
After twenty two dusty years of scaly skin and blisters on my feet from running from the mailbox, my hubby and I thought it would be really, really cool (in every sense of the word) to move to a beach somewhere. The salt air, sand between your toes and of course all of that endless water..! When we discovered a tiny island off the coast of Texas where they don’t even have so much as a McDonald’s, we thought we’d found heaven! Well, I must admit that not having anything but colorful beach cottages and a few mom and pop stores is refreshing.
But as goes with most things in life, there is always another side to the story. Life at the beach full time is: 
Everything metal, your car and every nail on your house rusts ten times faster than usual. [Unless you galvanize it].
The windows of your car are always dirty because the salt spray makes sure of it.
During the rainy season every closet along with most of the stuff in it as well as your walls have mildew.
The sun reflecting from the sand, bleaches everything, your couch, carpet, wallpaper, black dog (cat) etc.
Friends and relatives think it is so wonderful to live near the sea, they want to come visit you all the time…..
And that sand between your toes thing..? Think fungus. 
So, the next time you find yourself daydreaming of escaping to the beach, or you look at the jar of pennies you’ve been saving for the past two decades to finance that tiny cottage by the sea– think of me. I’ll be right here–looking out my window at the foamy Gulf rushing toward the dunes like a kid for its mom. Not much to do during the idyll days of June but count Pelicans and gather sea glass on long morning walks with Gus-the Newfoundland. Yeah, life at the beach ain’t heaven. But it’s as close as this writer is ever likely to get…. ‘Till next time. Enjoy today–tomorrow is where it belongs…. fantastically your, LC
books and random thoughts from -- L C Russell - Fiction Author 