The Beach Ramblings

I love the beach. I always have. When i was a child, my family would go to the beach for a month, every summer. I fell in love with the beach then, i think. The salty sea water, the smell of the beach, and the waves that rolled in, one after another. Oddly, i don't remember wanting to live near the beach...i just wanted to be able to spend as much time there as i could. As i get older, though, i wonder if perhaps it wouldn't be wise to reconsider! I can see Robert and i settling down in a beach community; but if that happens, i'm pretty sure that it would be a location outside of the USA. Yep, we are dreamers and have talked about this a lot over the past few years. With Emma just starting school, though, i'm sure that those dreams will have to wait a bit.

This is a well-needed family vacation. We all have been under stress from work, from working with Emma and just trying to keep up with life around us. Robert's brother has been sick and that has been a load on Robert's shoulders. Emma, well, we have some issues there. It's nothing that we can't work on (and we have been working hard on her issues!), but her issues came as a bit of a surprise to me. Looking back, it all makes sense now that these issues have been there all along....hindsight doesn't count, though. All of the quirks that i thought were just Emma, well, they hinted at a bit bigger problem. That's why i'm afraid that blogging has taken a back seat to daily life...

It's always been a nagging thought in the back of my mind on how much to share about our family and our lives. How much is too much? How much is too little? This blog started as a way for me to document Emma and her growing up, but as she grows, well, i have had second thoughts about sharing that. It's Emma's life and she isn't getting a say in what i share or don't share. I've thought about going to private with this blog often, but i keep in touch with many friends who sometimes check in via the blog to see how we are doing. I've posted many times and have just saved the posts when i thought that the post was a bit too much to share. I'm thankful that i don't have an issue with photos being lifted; a friend of mine shared with me how to make sure that wouldn't happen. I guess i need a sit down chat with Robert to figure out where to go with my blog. Perhaps i should go into another direction and not be a family/adoption/life/personal kinda blog...

Lots to think about...but at least i am at the beach where thinking is a good thing to do when you're sitting in the sand, listening to the waves crash against the shore. I have my camera and have done a bit of taking photos. There is a church that is abandoned near here that i'm going to check out one morning to photograph and of course, trying to get photos of Emma is challenging as the only thing she is interested in now is swimming and playing with the other little girls near us. It's been so much fun seeing her make friends and play...

Off to crawl into bed....tomorrow is another day at the beach!