Vacation images - cracked sky

My wife and I went to the beach on our own one fine morning. As has become our custom, however, our days at the beach are never sunny and warm. We don't plan it that way: bad weather seems to follow us around whenever we're alone and outside. As we doffed our sandals and stepped onto the sand, the sky was threatening and the wind was strong enough to sandblast our legs.

But we were alone - the munchkins were spending some quality time with their grandparents and that was all that mattered. As much as we love our kids - and we do, immensely and limitlessly - we similarly cherish being alone on certain rare, select occasions.

So we walked along the beach, stared at the churning ocean, held hands, and talked. It seemed like we were there for an age, but it was barely an hour before the wind-driven sand sent us back to the car.

I took this picture a few minutes after we got to the coast. The sky couldn't seem to decide whether it wanted to be sunny or cloudy. The sun's rays peeked through as if the sky had been cracked open. We could almost hear the choir sing an aria as the light burst out of the clouds. We felt very small and humbled to have seen this short-lived, unbelievably beautiful scene.