Beach Kids

 We're so lucky to have Freestone.  He is kind, quirky and funny. He is constantly taking Scott and me into imaginary worlds where his obsessions reign supreme.  You have no choice but to be co-opted into his world.  He's a night owl; he's definitely not a morning person.  And yet, in several years of early morning violin lessons, he has never complained about getting up.  He stumbles, at 5:45 am, from his bed to the car wordlessly, and by the time we get to McDonald's, he's throwing out his standard quips and jokes.  He probably doesn't realize how grateful I am that he does violin for me cheerfully, especially at that ungodly hour.

 I marvel at Xanthe and what she is able to accomplish.  She has a heart of endless forgiveness, love and patience, and she is teaching me to try for those qualities.  She has had her share of scholastic adversity, but she is like one of those punching bag dolls that bounces back up when you hit it.  Yesterday, she was doing online math, and it was clearly way over her head, but the class was trying to earn cookies or something, and she didn't want to hold them back from their goal.  I give up on math the second two numbers appear next to each other. but Xanthe was so determined, she got her teacher to change her level in the system so that she could understand the problems.  And this is after she had already been told she didn't even have to do the online math!  Xanthe is made of a special kind of steel.

 Ruby.  Everybody depends on her, and she never lets any of us down.  It's unreal how hard she works.  On a typical day, she gets up at 4 or 5 to do homework, goes to school at 7, gets home from Dance Company at 4, teaches a lesson, goes to ballet at 5, comes home at 6:30, teaches from 6:45 to 8:15, then goes to Nutcracker until 9:30.  After that, she eats dinner, practices guitar and does homework until after midnight.  During the brief minutes that she has between obligations, she takes time to connect with her family.  She's truly remarkable, and I am in awe.  Last night, Ruby was lying on the couch in her leotard, crying.  Her muscles ache from overuse, and the homework she had to face after Nutcracker was so much, there might not be enough hours before school started the next morning to complete it.  She had exactly three minutes to wallow in despair.  Hearing her student coming down the stairs, she wiped the tears off her face just in time to welcome her little protege with a genuine smile.  She loves her teaching.

 Tziporah.  She is a perfect gift.  She is exquisite.

 We had a death on the beach one day.  This beautiful dolphin washed ashore.  Its body was perfect, down to those neat rows of teeth.  I don't know what happened.

 There was a memorial service of sorts.  :)

 And then the Scheullers came down from their trip to Orange County to see what all the Imperial Beach fuss was about. We were so happy to see them!  The kids all melded into their work/play so seamlessly, we couldn't have scripted it better.

 Mike flew his drone over our fair city and got footage of our paradise.

 Tried to have some deep convos.  There are a lot of distractions, though!  We could talk for days and never cover all the topics we have lined up.

 Scott and Mike took Golda, Ruby, Araceli and Ellison to the hotel for a nice meal, and the rest of the kids nibbled our way around the farmers market with Sarah and me.  Can you believe how adorable Annie is!

 Friends since before birth!  They "met" in San Francisco a month before Araceli was born, when Ellison was just 2 weeks old.  I'm sure they have fond memories of that first encounter. ;)

 My cousins Karen and Scott and their kids were also in IB, staying at the beach club, at the same time as us, for 3 days!  We didn't get to spend any time together; we kept crossing paths.  It was so fun to have another DeBry family there.

 Josh was born at the exact time we were in China picking up Xanthe.  Now they're in the same school class.

 Ptolemy is in first grade, and it shows.  He's a stress case.  He came home from school one day and Tziporah said innocently, "Oh hi, Tolly!  Were you at Abe's house?"  He just unleashed all his rage.  "NO TIZZY, I WASN'T AT ABE'S HOUSE!  I'VE BEEN AT SCHOOL ALL DAY! GOSH, TIZZY!  YOU'RE SO MEAN!  GEEZ!"  It's a hard adjustment for him, and for me.  I hate to see him go every morning.  He's such a fun presence, so happy and enthusiastic.  That's why beach time is even more precious.  There's no stress, only wonder.  Tolly is a little crab, scrambling over the rocks of the jetty, looking for creatures.  He's so relaxed, it makes me even more sad that school crushes his little soul.  But what's the alternative?  Living on a sailboat?  We all have to grow up, but I'm clinging to every sundrenched moment of this boy's childhood.

 Ah, I wish that beach had hadn't had to end. It was ideal.  Thanks for making the drive to share it with us, Scheullers.