Mid-June
The beach day started perfectly.
Maya and I packed enough supplies for a small army towels, sunscreen, snacks, the works and met Riley and her moms at Santa Cruz around eleven. Kai would join us at two when he finished his Saturday morning work session.
"This is going to be amazing," Maya said, already running toward the water with Riley. "Best summer ever!"
Angela laughed, settling into her beach chair. "They have so much energy. I forgot what that was like."
"Same," I said, even though I was only seven years older than Maya. Somehow, raising her had aged me in ways that felt decades longer.
We spent the morning swimming, building sandcastles, and generally acting like we didn't have responsibilities. Riley and Maya buried each other in sand repeatedly, took approximately three hundred selfies, and consumed an alarming amount of snacks.
