Good Morning, Beautiful Ocean!

I think it started as a distraction on a rough morning. One of the girls was in a state over hair, clothes or just going to school in general, and I said 'HEY! Let's go say good morning to the ocean on the way to school!' It worked. To see the ocean, we just take a slightly less direct route from our home in midtown Key West to the girls' school, which is on NASKW Sigsbee Park. Last school year we would do it once a week or so, or any time one of them asked. This school year, we do it every morning, to avoid the traffic created by the major road construction on A1A, or Roosevelt Boulevard. (I use the word 'traffic' but it is really just more cars in one place at one time. I've driven I270 during rush hour, so I know what real traffic is.) So we make a right on 1st Street, which turns into Bertha Street after crossing Flagler. When we get near the 1800 Atlantic condos, I start saying 'Are you ready?' And then there it is, right in front of us.

Sometimes it is all three of us in unison, sometimes just me if the girls are crabby. But we say good morning to the beautiful ocean, the sun, the palm trees, sometimes to crabs, sea stars and giant squid. We drive with the ocean on our right side for most of the trip. It is beautiful. Seriously. Some mornings it so beyond that....stunning, jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring. The girls laugh and enjoy our short ride, but I am still new enough to this island life that I am still thrilled by it, every time. When I used to take them to preschool at Frederick Country Day from Clover Hill in Frederick, I truly felt like I was risking our lives trying to merge into traffic on Route 15 South from Hayward Road. The traffic and aggressive driving was such a crappy way to start the day....I always felt like yelling 'Is letting me in REALLY going to affect what time you get to work?!' This is much, much nicer.