We always made our way out before sunrise.  Dragged from dreams with sleep in our eyes, we piled squealing and squirming into the grey comet that hurled down the two lane highway towards Cranes.  My sister and me would sleep as best we could squished in the backseat between the cooler, canvas totes and giddy anticipation of a day at the beach.  The only stop along the way was the HoJo's with the growling bristle brush floor that clawed at our feet as we scrambled inside.  Three cups of coffee and four cigarettes.  Just enough fuel to make the trip and to provide the bounty of castle creating richness.

We would run wild with our hands full of summer wishes and empty creamer cups down the creaking pine planks towards the searing hot sand as white as snow that squeaked beneath our tender winter bare feet.  The humid afternoon air redolent with salt and sunblock blankets us as we sat on the foamy wet shore break. Our mother waddle wanders away from us down the beach hunting for sand dollars with doves inside.   But to us, the afternoon is about building our castle.   Happiness, like our childhood, scooped and stacked one white thimble-full at a time.













NaPoWriMo Day 1
*Inspired by the Early Bird Prompt to Write a Haibun
*Photos Credits:
 Cranes Beach - Trip Advisor 
 Oceanside 70.3 - Ironman.com