Sand Dollar

It was a gray, overcast morning.  But even such a morning is beautiful here.  The overnight wind had drifted the sand into ripples along the dunes, echoing the way the ocean waves were sliding in, one after another.

And out on the horizon, a single brown pelican winged its way westward, close to the waves, looking for breakfast.  The tide was going out unhurriedly, inch by inch.

Suddenly, I came unexpectedly upon my first sand dollar, whole and intact, its edges still partially buried in the sand; it seemed to be thin and fragile, its edges crumbling as I brushed away the sand with my glove.  The child within me wanted to cry out "Look what I found!"

After lunch we drove across the causeway to the Civic Center in Morehead City to sign up for the Cocoa 5-K in the morning.  The forecast has not changed a bit:  temperature of 28 degrees, wind of 9 mph, wind chill of 21.  There seemed to be more activity inside the building, where chocolate-lovers were setting up for the Chocolate Festival tomorrow, than at the tiny registration table tucked away behind a curtain.  This is definitely a no-frills event:  no goody bag, no discount tickets, no off-brand energy bars.  They just handed us our race number and sent us on our way.  We didn't even pick up a T-shirt (one per family), which was plain white cotton and imprinted with that same little chocolate bar as last year, one bite already taken out of him, running for his life.