Wednesday, June 30, 2010

The beach at night and odd happenings

One of the best things about living on the west coast of Florida (even if it is temporary) is that we can get up after dinner, and walk a block to the beach for sunset.  Yea, I'm bragging.  Let me do it while I can.

It was overcast and drizzly all day. Not fun at all for the boys, and to keep them from killing each other, I decided rain or not, we were burning off some steam at the beach.




I'm sorry, but even the beach in crappy weather is still amazing.  The gray and blues and creams are so soothing.  The boys ran into the water, which is already as warm as bath water now and I sat down with my camera to do some people watching and picture snapping.  Last year we caught Cameron Diaz at the ice cream shop. Her aunt lives on the island and people see her all the time here.  No such luck yet this summer.


 There is always at least one, maybe 2 groups, having their family photos done at sunset.  And here is the obligatory white shirt and denim group shot we caught tonight. Or as our teenager referred to them "The walking cliche".  I still thought it was great that they got a really big group together - that's so hard to coordinate with only 5 of us, i can't imagine orchestrating this...


But the coolest thing we saw tonight was this group of people that had gathered on the beach for a memorial service of one of their family members.  We watched them pop open bottles of champagne, and then one by one, each of them took turns speaking about his life and the effect he had left on them.  We weren't snooping - we were there first - they literally set up maybe 10 yards in front of my chair.  You could have knocked me over with a feather when i looked at the monitor on my camera after i took the pic...




People...that isn't a flash light, or a shrimping boat...i do believe they had a "guest" attend his own service.  It was such a sweet ceremony, i'm sure he was pleased.  


Linking to Melissa's "Inspired By" Fridays - what is more inspiring than signs of God, as my blogger friend Megan's says?

6 comments:

  1. Okay, coolest post ever! Wow, that you can walk to the beach! And to witness what you did...I just love when God amazes me with something when I least expect it! That photo is crazy cool, my friends and I were just talking about angels / spirits at Bible study last week. Wow!

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  2. Megan, I so agree. I decided to link to Melissa at Inspired By because of your comment. So thank you. I think God keeps those here that have duties here - earthbound angels - i have this story that i keep wanting to post about Walker when he was 3 years old that just sends chills down my spine - but in a good, God is here, kind of way. Maybe I will post that one day. Thanks for stopping by!

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  3. OH. MY. GOSH!! Let me tell you - every hair on my body is standing up. Don't you wish you could track them down and get that picture to them??!!?

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  4. they have it :) after they finished - we ended up talking to them - what's even sweeter is that the orb is over the widow (in the chair) - the young man in the bermuda shorts with the cap on his head and his back to us - came up to sarah after and she got his email address and she sent it that night. they have been pinging texts every since. Maybe the deceased is playing a little match-maker too? LOL.

    How ARE you?? How's the job?

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  5. Sheri - all of it - so wonderful! Walking to the beach, enjoying the family photo peeps and especially the memorial service. We are pure energy, only temporarily manifesting in human form, so why shouldn't we be in attendance? My belief is that heaven isn't a far-off place; it's here, we experience moments of it truly, and we experience it fully when we're free of our earthly vessels. I'd love to hear your story about Walker; love the description "God is here" kind of way.

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  6. Wow what a wonderful way to send off a dearly departed. I know I have told my boys that I want to be creamated and my ashes spread at a place that we spent lots of summers here on the west coast. My wife and I love to walk the beach no matter what the weather, but that is because we do not live on the ocean so when we get to the beach we enjoy every minute of it. Enjoy the time you have there, cherish each moment as they all too soon pass away...
    Blessings to you and yours Curtis and Sherrie

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