I'm a changed person

I absolutely despise the beach. I hate everything about it: the sand (which is the WORST part- it gets literally everywhere!), the ocean, the sun, the crowd... just everything. I don't get why people love the beach, there's sand everywhere, and you get it on everything. How do people manage to lay down their towels, lie down and tan, and not get ANY sand on their towel or on their stuff? I don't understand... The second I put something down, it's covered in sand. And it's so hot at the beach. I hate the heat. Everything at the beach literally radiates heat. For me, going to the beach is torture; you might as well be stabbing me or something, because going to the beach is just as painful.

Anyways, that was just a little background on me and the beach.

My family decided a week earlier that it would be a great idea to chill at the beach on Canada Day. So today (Canada Day), I was forced to go to the beach.

Everything sucked this morning. I had to wake up at 6:30 (because we needed to get there earlier to get a good spot); I was going to the beach; there would be no wifi or reception. When we arrived at the beach/lake (Buntzen Lake, but there's a beach/sandy area), there was A LOT of people already, and it was only 8 something in the morning. And the worst part was while my dad and a couple of my brother's friends' parents were setting up and my brother and his friends were playing, my mom and I each had to carry a large cooler down to the beach, with fold-up camp chairs slung over our shoulders. The coolers were so heavy, and we had to walk downhill, which wasn't as bad because it could have been uphill, and I was wearing flip-flops... so that was fun, trying to walk downhill in flip-flops, hoisting a cooler filled with ice packs, food, and water.

After the initial pain, my sour morning mood past.

My brother and his friends decided to go "fishing" and I followed along, wanting to try out my new camera. And by "fishing", I mean they had nets that they swooshed around in the water, and when they got lucky, they actually caught a fish or two. It was kind of nice standing on the dock, mountains and trees all around me, the water was a beautiful hue of blue, there were people on canoes and floaty-donut-things; there was this kind of tranquility and peace.

Since it was so hot, after I dipped my feet in the water for a bit, my feet dried off quickly, so when I walked back to our picnic table, sand and stuff wasn't stuck to my shoes, feet, and legs. I always hated that- getting out of the water and walking back to my towel or whatever and getting sand stuck to me, making it extremely uncomfortable to walk. And I always hated how dirty being on the sand or in water made me feel. I feel so dirty and germy and I feel like I have to wash myself off a couple times to cleanse myself of the beach dirtiness. But today, it seemed okay; I wasn't too bothered by the sand being dirty, and the water was fine.

I don't know... After spending a day at Buntzen Lake, I kind of have a different perspective of the beach. I didn't hate it as much as I had anticipated. I actually enjoyed myself. Something about it not actually being a "real" beach and having mountains and evergreen trees surrounding me made the experience somewhat pleasant. I actually wouldn't mind going back there. I may have liked today's "beach", but I am, by no means, anywhere close to liking a real beach and wanting to spend a whole day there. But I'm slowly changing, and it feels good to let go and enjoy something that I've always convinced myself I would hate forever.