Mountain range in a Great Lake

The things we see when we play in the surf
Port Burwell, ON
September 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Every once in a while, it does the soul some good to leave the everyday behind and go somewhere new. 

Granted, that’s a little hard to do these days thanks to a certain virus and scads of stupid people who fail to understand personal boundaries. But if you plan carefully enough, you can find quiet spots here and there where, if you squint your eyes just so, it can almost feel normal.

Which explains how we ended up at the beach in Port Burwell, a town on the edge of Lake Erie that has an ice cream shop, a hairdresser, and an honest-to-goodness submarine. The weather was questionable, which thankfully kept the crowds away, and the winds whipped the chilly waters and gave the snack-seeking gulls ample opportunity to show off their flying skills.

Pro tip: The birds like Bugles. Even better pro tip: Don't offer your fallen snacks to the birds. They're nasty. But today was about more than getting into trouble with some angry birds. At some point during our all-too-brief visit, I managed to get in some serious play-in-the-sand time. Now that I'm ostensibly an adult, I've traded the colorful plastic pails and shovels for cameras.

But I nevertheless reconnected with my inner child as I looked for optical inspiration in the turbulent stretch where waves play out their final act. That soul thing, after all, revolves around doing the things that make you feel whole. It was just as true before lockdown as it is today.

Now, though, I think we appreciate it a bit more. Or at least we should.

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