I was the local kid. I lived summers at the beach. I could say I was tall, dark, handsome, could surf, and play the guitar…truth, I was tall. Every week or two, half the cottages would turn over and cars with colorful license plates from all over the eastern half of the country and Quebec parked outside their new homes. The houses filled with moms and dads and lots of new kids. The lucky ones stayed for two weeks. At our end of the beach, we had our own almost private compound. My dad owned five cottages, a series of docks, and a collection of boats. We even had our own tidal beach.
A family from Virginia came with two 10-year-old fraternal twin daughters my age. They had come for two weeks. Early on in their stay, I was at the tidal beach and one of the twins was down there spinning in the water with an oar making big 12-foot circles in the water. Somehow, she seemed to need an increasingly bigger space and told me this was her beach and to beat it. I explained otherwise. The negotiations didn’t go well, and we both eventually retreated to our cottages.
Later in the day, I was down on the front beach with my mom on her beach blanket and that girl was 20-feet away shoveling sand. My mom looked at me and said, “You could use a new friend,” pointing to the girl. I protested, “No way! Do you have any idea…she’s just awful!” Mom just waved the girl over and said, “You two look about the same age,” and proceeded to ask questions and introduce us to each other. Kids and kid relationships are easy compared to 20 years or 30 years later. A five minute conversation on the beach and I had two new friends. Twins always go together.
I was the local. I knew every rock, every sand dune, all the tide pools, cliff walks, and remote coves. I knew where the fish and shells were. I was the local kid, the local guide. I was filled with beach wisdom of everything Maine, everything sea, and shore. I rather liked being the expert and knowing so much. With my new fascinated audience of two we hunted, we explored, and we did tide pools, Dozens of hours in the tide pools with every manner of sea creature: limpets, crabs, blue mussels, starfish, lobsters, and sea urchins.
One of the girls had blond hair, blue eyes, and was soft-spoken. I don’t remember her name. The one with the oar and shovel had straight brown hair, talked a lot, had opinions about everything. Her name was Jan. We became best friends. Before they went back to Virginia as a thank you and to remember her by, Jan gave me an alarm clock with a black face and the numbers painted green in radium. She cautioned me that it was radioactive and not to sleep too close to it. I thought it was awesome because the numbers glowed all night. I still have in my attic the black radium dial from the alarm clock that Jan gave me in 1959. What treasures we hold forever until a generation comes along that hasn’t a clue as to whatever possessed us to save such a thing. Why we keep such treasures is often because of sentiment. A true sentiment is a fundamental component of jewelry. The new generation is able to open these old boxes and toss all the useless stuff. When its made of precious gold and silver everyone takes notice and saves.
I see kids today in my old tide pools doing what appears to be the same type of science we did 60 years ago. What I know, or at least believe, is our Flora and fauna were much richer back then. Yet, I believe the fundamental science employed by kids is basically the same. In fact, today’s kids may be doing even better science.
Almost 40 years ago, my future brother-in-law and I went up to the tide pools and rolled rocks around. To be with him was like being a 10-year-old again. He was a research biologist from the desert. He went on and on about the richness of species, the diversity of life, how close creatures were, and how many things were under every rock. He found our tide pools to be intense.
It was 4:42, July 2, in 18 minutes I would go on vacation for a week, back to the white sand beach I grew up on. I’m in my 70’s; I don’t feel 70. I still, at times, believe I’m 16. When I go, I will be barefoot on the beach. I will take the row boat out every day to explore. I will search for buried treasure like I was ten.
And yes, if you made it to Maine and visited Higgins Beach in Scarborough in early July, and you saw an old guy and woman sitting on foam cushions at a low tide pool poking around like kids, it may have been Nancy and me… And yes, we will do it again the first week of August, and we will do it again the first week of September. -R.H.P.
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