I wrote you this letter a few weeks ago 💌

And I decided to drop it in the mail today.

Around 2:45 pm every day, I get bleary-eyed from staring into a screen in a window-less room all day. Most days, I power through the screen headache and try to do some semblance of a good job, mediocre as the result usually may be.

Today, I looked at my mostly checked off to-do list, grabbed my kindle and a can of Spindrift, slung my beach chair over my shoulder, and walked the 77 steps to the beach. The beach attendant was fast asleep in his little hut, and it wasn’t until I was already approaching the water’s edge that I realized I’d left my phone behind. Ah, well.

It was the kind of perfect day you dream about all winter long: the sun was warming my skin, but there was no humidity. It was low-tide, and the water looked like glass, flat as can be, a few kids splashing each other in front of the errant lifeguard. The only other beachgoers were quiet, respectful, good-tempered. Clouds regularly passed over so it never felt too hot.

Sometimes, usually on weekends when the beach is packe…