She stared into the pantry cabinet. It was getting pretty bare. She pulled open the refrigerator door, same scenario in there too. It was Saturday, her husband was working, again. She let out a long sigh and instantly thought of her mother and how when her mother sighed, just like that, it always drove her crazy. She sighed again.
The truck roared to life at the turn of the key. She guided it through the quiet, winding streets. Saturdays were always quiet and now with school being out of session for the summer, the children could sleep in on a Saturday, after all, they had the entire summer ahead of them. She turned onto a busy thoroughfare and drove to the first stoplight. For groceries, she needed to turn right. The light turned green, she gripped the steering wheel, took a deep breath and turned left.
It was not long before she was sailing along on interstate 40 headed due east. She smiled to herself and wondered if all the people who were going the same direction, were all going to the same place. She marveled at the pine trees, something she could never quite wrap her head around, that the south eastern part of the USA was covered in pine trees, zillions of them.
The terrain began to flatten and the sky, it seemed to grow wider and was beginning to fill with huge flat bottomed cumulus clouds. She wasn't sure if that was a real phenomenon, but she sensed it every time she got close. Every so often, the trees gave way to a few acres of farmland, reminding her of home.
She drove into a small city and laughed to herself that everyone must have had the same idea because now the traffic was bumper to bumper. She didn't mind, it gave her time to take in the scenery. The road turned into a cause way that began to climb higher and higher. As the truck reached the crest, she looked out the driver's side window. She saw what had taken precedence over a trip to the grocery store. The majesty of it never failed to take her breath away. The ocean, in all of its glory was in her sight, patiently waiting, just for her. She glanced quickly, as the road began its decent into the chaos of human structures, knowing that the view she had just witnessed would be obstructed, at least until she could find a place to park.
Parking turned out to be a challenge and she continued to drive, catching quick glimpses of the Atlantic between the brightly colored seaside houses. Finding no empty parking lots, she continued to drive south. If nothing else, she could just drive until she could go no further and then simply turn around. As soon as the truck left the city limits of the small seafaring town, the wall to wall houses disappeared and the view began to open. She drove on. As she rounded a curve, what she had been looking for came into view. The beach. No buildings, high rise hotels or brightly colored beach homes, just the beach for as far as the eye could see. The waves of the Atlantic Ocean were rising and falling, making sure that there would never be a shortage of sand as it pummeled the shore, again and again.
She parked and began to plod her way through the sand. There was no other way to walk through deep sand but to plod. She stepped upon a hard surface, what was left of a paved road sticking out of the sand. A reminder of who was actually in charge when it came to building structures on the shoreline, thinking they could stand the test of time against the sea. She walked towards the water, to where the sand was firm. There were several concrete piers in the distance, that was her destination.
She sat down on one of the piers and faced the sea. This was much better than grocery shopping, even if it meant there would still not be anything for supper.
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