The sadness we feel is not just because of black yucky stuff washing up on the beach.  It’s not the oil-covered pelicans.  It’s not the sorrow we feel for the shrimpers and charter boat captains.  The sadness we feel is totally selfish.  Beaches play a critical role in our life.  Escape.  Relax.  Chill.  Dream.  Breath.  The verbs could go on and on.  Something very sacred, very personal has been taken from us.

If you ask my sons what their favorite memory is, I can promise you it will have taken place on a beach.  Could be on the Gulf Coast…or it could be on the Tennessee River.

a motley crew gathers at Sea Ray Beach above Guntersville Dam

Here’s a photo of us at what we call Sea Ray Beach near the Guntersville Lock…yes, on the Tennessee River in North Alabama.

One of our friends doing the Great Loop described the oil spill scene near Panama City Beach like this…

“it looked like the Gulf of Mexico was crying and her mascara was running along the shoreline.”

Ok…that made me cry at my computer.

Send us your PHOTOS or VIDEO along with a short paragraph about your favorite beach.  Maybe it’s Gulf Coast and we need to be reminded just exactly what we’re fighting to fix.  Every one of us has dressed up in all white outfits and posed for a family photo somewhere on a Gulf Coast beach…so send those.

Or…it just might be on a riverbank or lake shoreline.  It may be a sandstone brown instead of sandy white beach but it’s beautiful just the same, filled with memories of roasting marshmallows, telling ghost stories about old riverboat captains, watching your buddy wakeboard for the first time, and anchoring out all weekend.

This is our tribute to the critical role our beaches play in our lives…creating memories we remember a lifetime.

See you on the river,

Christy