Interlude

And a happy anniversary it was.

Yes, Brandon and I did shirk off our parenting and other life duties for a long, magical weekend at Myrtle Beach that, aside from a mildly annoying sinus infection, was everything we have been dreaming about really since we stepped in the door of the house fifteen years ago after our honeymoon.

A break so needed, so appreciated, every moment so very soaked up.

We shopped at our favorite stores, ate at two of the country's most delicious local well-kept secrets, watched a Blue Angels airshow from our hotel window, enjoyed some scheduleless QT, and pushed all our own elevator buttons. All by ourselves, y'all.

My only pictures are of the beach because this is my peace. My God meets me here every time. I walked a half-mile and sat for almost two near-sunset hours listening to the roar and watching the ceaseless motion and feeling the strong ocean breeze and smelling the salt, be still my heart.

In the crash of waves, in the whip of wind, in the call of gulls, He speaks.

Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. Micah 7:18-19

He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea. Job 9:8

He who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar — the Lord Almighty is his name. Jeremiah 31:35

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. Psalm 139:9-10

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Psalm 46:1-2