Two Beaches On Opposite Sides of The Ocean

Posted by Marivic Marsden:

One of my earliest memories as a kid was spending almost every weekend at the beach. That just seems like the natural thing to do when you grow up on a tropical island and when your maternal grandparents' home was walking distance to the beach. I remember swimming with my siblings and cousins in the placid waters of the sea. Not quite like the violent, adrenalin pumping surf of the waters on this side of the globe. My parents watched us, of course, but for the most part we splashed around uninhibited. I played my heart out during the day. I ate a lot, too. Somehow I always associate going to the beach with grilled fish and steaks. On the ride home my brothers and sisters and I would fall asleep and next thing we knew we were in bed. It was a carefree, fun and happy time in my life. Somehow that sense of well-being is partly recreated for me when I go to the beach now that I am an adult. I'm sure it is for my brothers and sisters, too.

This summer I was able to spend time on a beach in San Clemente with my kids and husband and his extended family. I didn't splash around in the surfy waters, because I'm just not that carefree anymore, but I still had a blast.

Meanwhile, my brother and his family also spent their vacation on a beach eight thousand miles across from me on the Pacific Ocean. Here are pictures of my brother, my ister-in-law Tina and their kids in Moalboal, a resort on the island of Cebu in the Philippines.

Here are photos of me and my family in San Clemente in Southern California.

One day soon, we hope, our families will be able to spend time together on the same beach on the same hemisphere. He probably will not like the surfy waters on this part of the globe :-) but he'll get used to it and learn to like it like I did. If he doesn't, well, I'll just tell him to because I'm the boss. I'm firstborn and he's the baby, and what I say goes :-) (Just kidding, Bro!)