Couples On The Beach

 Couples on the beach at sunset.

I had a really grueling day yesterday. I thought it would never end. I did however get to take the long way home and make a rare detour to enjoy the final rays of the setting sun on a warm calm night. 

I couldn't help but notice the beach and surrounding pathways. Crescent Beach has it's share of joggers, and a lot of individual folks who use the setting sun as their night time ritual before calling it a day. This night as most nights, the beach here at Crescent Beach is as almost all beaches in the lower mainland, filled with mostly couples. Couples sitting and talking, couples walking, couples pushing strollers on the pathway, couples, like me taking advantage of the great photo op that lasts only minutes at this time of day. I did also notice that there were no crying babies, no dirty diapers, no one was carrying tools, groceries or dressed like they had just gotten off work at the local land fill project. Just folks out to breathe in sea air and enjoy a few serene moments before getting back to the responsibilities and mayhem that is the substance of most of our daily lives.

Clearly, for many of the couples this was date night to with the appropriate care to look one's best. Everyone looked relaxed and all the conversation you overhear is upbeat and happy. For all these couples, some clearly married, some probably in relationships, and some no doubt on a first date. There had to be some on a first date. Every dating profile I have ever seen has "a walk on the beach" as a favorite activity, so I just know there had to be one or two. But the one thing that struck me the most is that every couple I saw appeared happy to be there and really enjoying the person they were with. Is this because they were happy to start with and then just happened to go to the beach for a walk, OR did the beach have something to do with making them happy to be together with only themselves to focus on?

Not everyone can live close to a beach. For some of us that only works for part of the year anyway. There is a critical relationship take-a-way in all this. For relationships to be close, you must dedicate time to being close. Doing something pleasant with just the two of you, alone, uninterrupted, enjoying one another is critical to remembering why you are together in the first place. Do not neglect on a regular basis to find "your beach" where ever and whatever that may be.