Friday 18 January 2013

Beach Therapy

I was really looking forward to getting away to Swansea with the boys and my family, but I didn't except it to be so therapeutic.  As the days went on I felt myself relaxing more and more. By the third day I suddenly realised how good I felt and the usual stress I feel in my neck and shoulders had gone.  The house is away from the main town and surrounded by bush, with only a few other houses around that you don't really see which is why I think it felt so relaxing.
We only would see a few people and maybe a horse or two each day, on the beach in front of the house, so it felt like we had our own secluded little beach. Just looking out at this beautiful view from the house every day made me feel relaxed.

We loved having lazy mornings just hanging out in the house, not having anywhere to go unless we wanted to.




After beautiful days at the beach, we would come back to the house and spend time in 'the fun room' (as Kobe called it!) playing foosball and eight ball. 
Some days it was quite windy, but once the wind died down we would head out to the beach. Before we left I remembered some old blow up boats we had in the garage. We took them down and they turned out to be so much fun.  The boys spent ages on them, trying to float down the river to the sea on them and getting crashed in the waves on them.



The day before we left was a very windy day and after Jay was thrown out of one of the boats by a wave, it started getting flipped over in the wind and blew right out to sea before we could get it. The other one got a hole in it at the same time, so the boat fun was over and the boys were missing them a lot on the last day. 

Chrish thought he was safer in his kayak than on a blow up boat, and would take it out to the middle of the bay and would throw his line in, to see if he could catch any fish.  This day wasn't so successful.

I've always loved the beach since I was little, but this time it was just really hard to drag myself away from it.  Just being there with no people around and having such a lovely place to stay at made me feel so relaxed.  We loved just being able to watch the waves roll in, play in the boats and waves, collect shells and had fun throwing the frisbee around.




Aaron and Noah were on my mind all the time, but while I was there it hit me that for the first time in 12 months the sadness and grief wasn't the thing on my mind the most.  I actually felt stress free (as stress free as you can feel with what we've gone through)  for the first time in a long time and it was so nice to feel a little bit 'normal' again.
It's hard to read but Harri wrote in the sand 'Noah Aaron King, Aaron Roxley Thornton King. Love and miss you guys so much xxx'.
 
 The day before we came home was my Mum's 60th birthday.  I made pancakes for breakfast and we sat and talked about how hard it was going to go home and leave the beautiful view while we ate.
 We then had a lovely morning on the beach before we took her out for lunch at the Bark Mill Tavern in Swansea.  She had the 'surf and turf' which was huge!
 
After lunch Chrish headed home and while Mum had a nanna nap (which I'm sure she will have a lot more, now she is a senior citizen!) the boys and I headed to the beach for one more afternoon before we had to leave the next morning.  We had a lovely week with my family with us, but just the couple of hours I spent with my boys on the beach that afternoon was my favourite time there all week.  We had a lovely walk together, just talking and having fun as we splashed each other in the waves (all the while I was yelling 'watch my phone!!'). 

My boys are typical brothers - best friends one minute and then fighting the next. This made me smile so much.
These steps led up to a beautiful house which had the most amazing views of the beach. 
The boys had the best week and although they each had a few sad times when they were thinking about Daddy and Noah, it was nice to see them so happy and having so much fun.  

I was trying to get a 'selfie' of myself on the beach ('cause that's what all the cool chicks are doing these days right!? ;) when Jay cracks me up by jumping in the pic, pulling a duck face.  He cracks me up as he's always imitating teenage girls doing selfies on their phones. 
It was the best thing to be able to just get away from everything for a week and I felt like a big weight had been lifted from me while I was there.  Every time I'm away at the beach for a while I think about how wonderful it would be to live closer to the beach, and always think I should sell up and just move there.  If only it were that easy. 

It was so hard to wake up on the last morning and know it was time to leave, especially when I opened the blinds to see the sun was shining and it was going to be another beautiful day.   As we got closer to home I literally felt the stress coming back as my neck and shoulders started to get tense again as I knew I was driving back home where I hate being without Aaron and Noah.   It has been hard being home just even for the last few days as reality hits again, but I was so grateful to 'get away' from the grief (not that you can ever truly get away from it) just for that short time.  It was so therapeutic. 

10 comments:

  1. Beautiful. The picture of your boys walking on the beach holding hands made me teary eyed. And the picture of you and jay made me laugh. I'm glad you had time to relax and 'get away' from the grief.

    ReplyDelete
  2. go happy it was a special, relaxing time. looks like an amazing place to stay x

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good on you! Sometimes it is so hard to relax and let go of that tension. More of it, I say!

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's nice to read that you had such a good time with you're boys. Your're such a strong family. I hope there will be more moments without stress for you in the future!
    Dineke

    ReplyDelete
  5. what a great post! happiness, even in moments or weeks is always such a welcome friend.

    have you ever read the book 'gifts from the sea" by anne morrow lindbergh? good read ;)

    beautiful family!

    ReplyDelete
  6. A lovely holiday shared. Praying each day gets a little easier & you have many more wonderful days at the beach. Please treat yourself to a wonderful relaxing massage to help with the tension in your body.
    Karyn x

    ReplyDelete
  7. So happy to hear you all had a great time away

    ReplyDelete
  8. I am so glad you were able to relax and enjoy the beach trip with your family. The boys look so happy in these photos. Nice to see their huge smiles. Sounds like your walk on the beach with the boys was nearly perfect. Hope you get more days away at the beach and/or can get yourself a little hide away there someday.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Lisa, looks like you had such a lovely time away at the beach. I think that you feel relaxed and peaceful at the beach also because Aaron loved the beach too from what you've said in previous posts. I think that signals that he is there and watching over you more than ever. What a beautiful thing. I admire so much how you constantly see things that are beautiful and fun even though you have a heavy heart - not many people are capable of having such a courageous and positive outlook on life. You are such an inspiration to everyone and I, like many others, just wish I could help you somehow. Just know that your boys are extremely lucky to have such a loving, strong and beautiful mother that they will treasure all their lives. Keep strong and I hope you can get away on another beach holiday soon xxx

    P.S. Maybe you should buy a beach house near your house(or convince close family member to!) and visit every weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  10. i am so happy that your holiday was a good one for you all...no place like the beach to relax you....i can see why you didnt want to leave such an amazing place...at least you can go back again now you know how beautiful it is...and soon...there is always the easter break!!!!XXXX

    ReplyDelete

We are so grateful for everyone's love and support, and appreciate your comments xoxo

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...