Yesterday the wife and I took the kids to Revere Beach, specifically the Point of Pines in Revere, MA. This part of the beach isn’t the nutty part where Kelley’s is or the sand castles. Rather, it’s a private section of the historic beach that came deeded with my mother’s house.
I’m not a hug beach fan by no means. I hate the sand in my toes. I hate it when sand gets into my sneakers. Overall, you feel like a big salty mess when you’re at the beach. However, since we are there often with the kids, I’ve come to enjoy it really.
We don’t have a vacation planned until October so until then, day trips and jaunts to “Grammy’s Beach” is what we’re doing this summer — and that’s ok with me considering work is nuts and I’m putting in about 16 hours a day between my full time gig and my part-time gig as executive editor with Technorati. When the wife and I decided that yesterday was going to be a beach day, I decided to cut the chord. Yes, I brought my iPad to the beach (though only to read). I had my phone, but I only checked it a couple times (and really used it to take videos of the kids).
Needless to say, I spent more time splashing around in the water and tossing the kids around than I did buried in a device. It was awesome and I need to do more of it.
Sometimes in our hustle and bustle of living, we forget to unplug. We’ve become some dependent on technology and being connected that we forget to “connect” — connect with family, connect with our spouses, connect with friends, etc.
The memories we made yesterday, though small and a spec in the memory back of our eight-year family story, will last forever. Spending the time with the wife and kids didn’t require power chords. It didn’t require checking voice mail. All we needed to do was pack the cooler full of drinks and snacks, throw on the swim trunks and have a blast. That, my friends, is priceless.
When’s the last time you really connected?