Tourists From Paradise Made Me Appreciate My Dreary Beach
Discovering the beauty surrounding us
If you’re ever having trouble seeing the beauty that surrounds you, try looking at things through someone else’s eyes.
I live within driving distance of a local city beach. It’s dirty and dingy and the sand is hard. The sunsets are mostly mediocre and the weather is usually cool (let’s face it, downright cold).
You very rarely find people out there in swimsuits and flip flops. It’s more of a place to bundle up and maybe take a daytime walk or double bundle up and have a bonfire at night.
It’s not my favorite place to go, if that’s not already apparent from my description of the scene. I neither cared much for this beach nor appreciated it until tourists from paradise offered me a new perspective.
My cousins from the island of O’ahu visited and spent a week touring my hometown. They visited all the touristy areas, ate great food, took in a professional sports game, and visited surrounding towns. But their favorite thing to do was walk along our “beautiful beach.”
Our beautiful beach?
These people are from Hawaii where the beach sand is soft and warm, the sky is blue, the sun beams down with brilliance and warmth, and people swim and surf and frolick in the ocean water that holds a perfect temperature of 75 degrees. Sunsets are purple, blue, orange, and pink and silhouetted by tall palm trees.
Yes, these Honolulu locals were completely impressed by our miserably cold and dreary beach!
They said our waves are big and amazing crashing against the shore, the air is crisp, and the walking path is perfect. They liked it so much so that they rose early almost every morning and walked 6 miles along the beach.
Hailing from the tropical land of plumerias, mango and lychee trees, birds of paradise, the ever-famous hibiscus, and orchid leis, here they were doting on our sidewalk’s plain green and dull succulents.
“Look how big those succulents grow,” my cousin pointed out during one of our walks. “Oh how I’d love to be able to sneak one of those home.” Of course he did not. But these comments really took me by surprise.
It was in these moments that I came to appreciate the beauty of our city beach and the richness of our seemingly boring plant life. I realized the power of the waves in our part of the ocean, the strength and color and size of our resilient succulents, the clarity of our cool crisp air, and the luxurious architecture of the homes in our neighborhood.
I’m not sure if it’s the fast-paced nature of our city life or my ungrateful eyes but something was surely keeping me from enjoying and fully appreciating the beauty surrounding me. It took tourists from arguably one of the most beautiful lands to make me see my environment more brilliantly.
Now anytime I look at our beach or our sidewalks lined with succulents, I think to myself, I’m really lucky to live here.
A story from Trista Signe Ainsworth because anything from Trista is worth reading…
