A boy at the beach

The California Coast is not all sunshine and tanned beauties in teeny bikinis. In fact most of it can be dreary and foggy and damp. I grew up on that kind of coast, longing for the warmth and carefree life in the Southern California version of the beach.

But this time, this visit to this beach, where I watched my high-school boyfriend surf, where we scattered my dads ashes and where our beloved dog thought he was a seal and swam way too far off shore only to return to a beach full of nervous onlookers, this visit was different. It was the nugget's first time at this very special piece of the California Coast, and the damp, misty fog didn't bother him at all.

And I, barely even noticed.

Maybe that's what happens when you go back home, as a grown up.