in my life

"There are places I remember all my life."

I stood there and the view took my breath away. So cliche, I know. But so true. I had been many places and seen many things, but never anything like this.

I was pretty much standing in a postcard. One of those idyllic, sunny, sandy beach photos that I always dismissed with a grain of salt. Like I said, I've seen places and none of them had ever looked like this. I had been in big cities and dark alleys and long, winding rural roads. I had even seen beautiful things. But all of it paled in comparison. This water was bluer than any river or lake or stream I had ever seen. This sand was soft warm beneath my feet. This sky was perfect, a few bright white, fluffy clouds and a beaming sun.

All my reservations about taking this trip rushed to my head and I nearly laughed aloud. The work I was leaving in my co-worker's hands. The mail and newspapers piling up over the next few days. The general sense that my little world back home would fall apart while I was gone.  Even as I was boarding the plane, all I could think of was the cost of the ticket and of the whole vacation, and how it could have gone towards some project for my house or my car note or just anything more practical. But now that I was here I finally understood why all my friends had been insisting I take this vacation, that I come to a place like this.

It was beautiful and breathtaking and something a life shouldn't be lived without.