Salty Promises to Ourselves

I’m sure we’ve all heard how important it is to keep promises that we’ve made to ourselves. We make choices in our lives to ensure that we can keep those promises.

I’ve written before about how important beach time is to Bob and me. When we used to come to Sitges for vacation we would spend a part of almost every day on the beach. We would sunbathe and we would swim in the sea. We would float together in that refreshing salt water and talk about our dreams. It was there that we talked a lot about some day moving to Spain. We talked about how wonderful it would be to spend the summer days at the beach. And as we floated in that refreshing salt water we promised ourselves that if we did move here that we would do just that. Summer is too short to waste.

Our summer schedule consists of spending two to three hours each day, Monday through Friday, at the beach. We like a quiet beach. We like to read. We like to swim. We like to snorkel. We like to sunbathe. With the COVID-19 pandemic there were certainly times during our lockdown that we wondered if we would have beach time this summer. If it is possible we may actually appreciate it just that bit more this summer.

Last week we decided to change our time at the beach a bit. Instead of getting there around 11am we decided to pack a little breakfast and get to the beach at 9am. It is HEAVEN! The beach is empty for the most part. At that time of day there are the regulars, who probably like us, enjoy a quiet beach. The other plus is that, obviously, it isn’t as hot at that time of day. We have our breakfast, sunbathe and read, people watch, swim, snorkel, sunbathe and read, and then pack up just as more people arrive. I will say that people are being very respectful and keeping space as we are supposed to this year. I will also tell you that there is NO WAY we would go to the beach on the weekend. A lot of people from Barcelona escape the city and come to Sitges so the town and the beaches are not places we want to be on weekends.

After our beach time in the morning we have the rest of the day for work and writing. There are days when we don’t get enough done and one of us will say, “well, we could skip the beach tomorrow” and the other will say “NO!”