By Tabitha Bozeman
This weekend, our family is going to the beach. We have made this a family tradition and we look forward to it every November. The weather will be cool, the beaches will be mostly empty and our girls will have a great time looking for shells, interesting pieces of driftwood and sundry other pieces of ocean detritus.
I love this trip for several reasons. One of my favorite parts of going to the beach is the simultaneous sensory overload and deprivation. Sitting on the beach, the wind blowing in my ears and face, the water and sky reaching out as far as I can see is a sensory experience akin to existing in the white noise I like to listen to when working. It also drowns out any bickering and tattle-telling, and I can just smile and nod and continue enjoying the scenery.
Another part of this trip I really look forward to is visiting the Gulf Specimen Aquarium in Panacea, FL. It is very small, and the buildings are a kind of patchwork of touch tanks, rescue pools and observation spaces. There is even one area with hundreds of hermit crabs that run and dig and hide that visitors can pick up and touch. My favorite part is the touch tank with sea squirts, sea poppies, urchins and other water creatures I can pick up and interact with. Last year, I saw the tiniest puffer fish in the observation room, and my girls had fun making faces at a tank of a bulbous-headed fish that gives bombastic side-eye.
When we make this trip, we stay at a cozy AirBnB, cook our meals at home and play card games in the evenings. During the day, we explore the beaches and small communities along the shore. These are my favorite treasure hunts — we always find a new shop or restaurant or park we missed the year before. In a way, it is a new trip each time we go. We are visiting the same cities and towns but finding hidden treasures on each new exploration. As Proust puts it, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”
This way of seeing is a trick I try to remind myself to try out regularly at home, too. Whether I am driving across town, working at home or going for a walk, intentionally having “new eyes” leads to all kinds of fresh discoveries. Changes in weather, seasons and place often help us see our surroundings and loved ones with new eyes.
This past week, the girls and I went on several walks, taking pictures of the scenery. The fall colors, the sunsets and the clear bright skies were beautiful. Then, we finally had a solid day of much needed rain. On our way home after school, the girls and I took the same roads we often travel, and I pointed out how much brighter the leaves are against the grey sky and darker, rain-soaked tree trunks. Several times, they asked me to slow down, pull over and roll down their windows so they could take pictures. They’d been down the same roads all week, but the change in weather let them see their surroundings with new perspectives.
While packing for our trips, I often find myself sighing over all the work a vacation is. We will have fun, but I know everyone will be more than ready to come home by the last day. Sometimes the work of making a vacation happen makes me wonder why we leave in the first place, but besides the memories and new explorations, one of the best parts of traveling is coming home with new eyes.
When we return, it will be time to start our Christmas season, visit the Falls and look at the lights and animal habitats with family. We will put up a Christmas tree and settle in for the cozy season. As we do, it will be an opportunity to see our home, the past year, each other and future plans with new eyes — and plan our next voyage of discovery.
