samantha sapp creative

6:12 pm - Sat, May 26, 2012

Slip and slide fun with my boy (Taken with instagram)

11:50 pm - Wed, May 23, 2012

A sweet escape.

Sometimes life is just hard. And when life is hard, there are a few people and/or places that can help make me feel better again. And two of them just so happen to be in the same place: my sister and the beach. So when Aaron suggested that we get out of town for a few days, I was completely on board. Aaron has the best work ethic of anyone I’ve ever seen in my life—which means he not only knows how to work incredibly hard, he also knows how to keep his work priorities in check. When it’s family time, it’s family time. I have never doubted what is more important to him, and I love and appreciate that about him so much. That said, I’m not sure which red flag alerted him that I was in need of some time away—perhaps my persistent eye twitch, or my more-than-usual hermit tendencies, or my rage against the unfortunate solicitor who suggested we didn’t love our children enough if we didn’t buy his home security system—but whatever it was, it must have been a red mayday alert because we set a date two weeks out and made it work.

So last week, away we went…just the three of us to spend some time with my sister and the ocean. Both are so good for my soul.

Ash and her husband, Clay (or Bo, as we call him) are stationed in Ft Walton Beach. Bo is in the Air Force. They live in the cutest little apartment with an ocean view. It smells like salt water and incense and its full of paintings and pictures and treasures from their travels together. It’s one of the coziest places to me. Both my brother and sister make anywhere feel like home—I’m lucky like that.

Elijah has been to the beach several times and from day one has always loved it. He sleeps to the sound of the ocean on his sound machine, which I purposefully did as a mind trick to make him love the waves as much as his mama, and it totally worked. That’s right—I basically brainwashed my kid into liking the ocean. Mother of the year.

Ash paddle boards and she graciously look Elijah out on the water for what had to equal hours and hours. I paddle boarded for approximately 20 minutes and still can not walk normally. It’s a workout, to say the least. We saw dolphins everyday. We ate good food (Ash is an awesome vegan cook), we laughed a lot, I drank mimosas for breakfast, we swam in the ocean and soaked up the sun. In a word, it was healing. It was exactly what I needed.

So thank you, sister, for having us and for just being you—sweet, funny, comfort-to-my-soul, you. And thank you, husband, for knowing how to take care of me.

I always leave so grateful for time spent here, and with a great anticipation of when I will return. And such is life as I know it currently—full of thankfulness and anticipation.