My walks on the beach

This is a picture of me around 1981/82. I lived in Hawaii. My mother use to walk me to school when I was in kindergarten, along the beach. She did this everyday until one day she was late coming to get me, so being that I had memorized my way home with my mom from our walks in the past, I took the walk home that day without her. I made it home safe and sound and my mother was surprised and proud. It told her that I was a big girl and could walk home on my own. From that day on, I walked home from school without her, along the beach - sometimes with sand in between my toes. She had realized that I didn't need her to walk with me.

My school was called Nanaikapono Elementary School and it was located very close to the beach. In one of my school pictures, you can see the water in the background and my teacher had very long hair - down past her waist. In this picture the water was a beautiful shade of blue, frothing at its edges. While warm sand sat beneath my feet and seaweed and stranded weeds lay straggling on the shore, I smiled bright, my signature smile.

I think of how this picture relates to my life and as I am blogging this, I am realizing that the walks that I had with my mother mean more to me now as an adult. My mother died when I was nine years old. Although she was taken from this world at a young age - 35 years old, her walks with me at least showed me the way so that I would know how to get home. She was there long enough to show me a path and eventually I would figure it out on my own, because unfortunately she wasn't able to be there to walk me the rest of the way. I miss the walks on the beach as much as I miss her now. It's amazing what memories a picture holds and how meaningful it can be.