Detox

I never realized how much of a junkie I am - a camera junkie that is. I swear I get the shakes, cold sweats and rapid breathing when all is not well with the camera. 

We went to the beach today (camera in hand), forgetting that it was probably the worst day EVER to go to the beach - especially Pensacola Beach. It's Labor Day, and what does everyone and their mom do on a four day weekend? - Head to the beach. So it was tourist galore and there wasn't a empty strip of sand in sight. So down I drove, with the three little ones in tow, a bit further down Fort Pickens than usual where we finally found a decent place to set our cooler, open the beach chairs and stick the umbrella in the sand. 

This was my first time to the beach with the kids with no backup ('backup' being Daddy) and I was...scurred...to say the least. I was expecting madness and meltdowns from the moment we stepped out onto the sand. But no. My brood surprised me and were uncharacteristically low maintenance. Even when I was in the water with one of them and another was building a sandcastle, they behaved. No one begged for attention or freaked out when I didn't spend the same exact amount of time with each of them. They played and they laughed and they behaved. 

Owen wouldn't get in the water at first, I believe he was on strike, because he said..."but Mommy, Daddy's not here...who's gonna be the shark?" So he sat there, contently, building a sandcastle which was continually washed away by the tide. Ari loved being on the boogey boards and being thrown around by the waves (we usually pick a spot inland because it's calmer, and less waves equals more kid friendly fun) but with the loads of out-of-towners that wasn't an option today.

I kept moving from kid to kid so that no one felt left out and that, of course, meant I saw pictures. By that I mean when I'm focused on one child I'm just that; focused.  I watch them. I see the light on their face. I see the perfectly blue sky and the amazingly white fluffy clouds behind them. I see the innocence on their face and I see an amazing picture; a moment I want to capture and keep forever and share with others for inspiration. So I leave Ari and Ethan to boogey-board and I head over to Owen and I start to help him build a sandcastle. 


The tide was getter closer and closer to the castle and he tells me he's making a moat (except he doesn't call it a 'moat' - he calls it a 'water catcher'). I'm impressed that he knows the concept of a moat - excuse me - water catcher, and I begin to watch him. It was the perfect picture so I reach for my bag and grab my handy dandy...camera. I click it on, manually focus so that I can capture his perfect face and his perfect water catcher and the perfect sky and the perfect clouds and the perfect sand and....nothing. I notice the viewfinder display is black and I drop the "F" bomb - my battery was sitting in the charger at home on the living room floor. Fuck. I always have one of our point and shoots as back-up (shitty back-up but back-up nonetheless) so I grabbed it instead. I went to set up the picture and saw how crappy it was going to look in comparison to what my love affair (also know as my Nikon) would have done. Fuck. I put the point and shoot back in my bag and just opted to capture the moment in my mind. I fought off the shakes and cold sweats and did some deep breathing as if I were in yoga class. Then I went back to my job of building the sandcastle. 

Better luck next time.