Chapter 35

"Who's excited to go to the ocean?"

"We are, we are." say Sarah and Hannah, jumping up and down.

"What are you girls going to wear today?"

"I'm going to wear the same black and white striped shorts I did last time."

"And I'm going to wear my favorite yellow shorts and half tank top outfit."

"Okay, Sarah, make sure you girls bring pullover pants and..."

"And a sweater or sweatshirt just in case it is cold."

"That's my smart girl."

"Let's bring the big towels so we don't have to buy new ones."

"Great idea, Sarah. You girls get your cute little butts back upstairs and change, and I will make us a hardy breakfast."

"Yes sir!" says Sarah, but they both snap to attention and salute.

"You two have just been waiting to do that, haven't you?" The girls smile and giggle as they run up the stairs. As an afterthought Christopher says, "Why don't you two bring along a pretty dress, and after we're done at the beach we'll go to a nice place for dinner."

All of a sudden Hannah comes running back down the steps, and as Christopher kneels she flies into his arms. As he is holding her tight she pulls her upper body away so they can look at each other. Hannah gives him a bunch of little kisses and then says, "Thank you." Christopher smiles with moist eyes and pats her bottom.

As they are making the not so long drive to the coastline Sarah says, "Guess what?"

"What?"

"It's going to be Hannah's birthday on July sixth. I was thinking we could do a big party for her."

Hannah is worth loving and being around, but Christopher still can't help but smile when he remembers all of this is happening because of Sarah's love. "I think that is a great idea. Cathy will be here too, so we can do something really special."

"Do you think we can get Hannah's grandma to let her stay with us again?"

"I'm not sure what day the sixth is on, but don't forget Hannah is going to be staying with us every Wednesday through Saturday." The smile Hannah has on her divine face is so precious, that Christopher finds his temperature rising for a second when he thinks that anybody would make her feel less than the smart and beautiful sweetheart she is.

"Also, when we take Hannah home Saturday I was going to ask her grandma if I could have her for the whole week Cathy is here. I want Cathy to fall in love with her just like I have, and of course you too, my precious Sarah Ann." Christopher quickly leans over and down while keeping one eye on the road and gives Sarah a kiss. Hannah unbuckles her seatbelt and leans across Sarah so she can give him a little girl kiss too. "You better get your cute little butt back in that seatbelt, young lady." They both giggle. Little girl kisses are Heaven's gift to the world, but their giggles are the divine light from which the grace of creation flows.

When they pull up to the beach Hannah is as wide-eyed as any child about to embark on a fairytale adventure. Hannah is open mouth speechless. Sarah and Christopher are looking at her with the same wonder she is looking at the ocean, then Sarah and Christopher look at each other and smile.

Christopher gets out of the truck and lifts Sarah down. He then walks around the back of the truck and opens the passenger door. Hannah looks up at him. Christopher reaches over and unbuckles her seatbelt. He holds his hands out to her and she comes to him. He lifts her down, locks the doors, and takes her little left hand into his right one.

As soon as they reach the sand she stops in it. Sarah, who is already a quarter of the way to the water, says, "Come on, Hannah."

Hannah looks up at Christopher. "Go ahead, baby, have fun." She smiles and goes running with Sarah.

Immediately Christopher notices it is cold. The wind is blowing only a little harder than it was when Cathy, Sarah and he were here before, but it is quite a bit colder. Of course it is still only ten in the morning, but he is glad he has on his long sleeve shirt of a local motorcycle shop out of Plymouth, California, called Foothill Motorcycle Company. It has red and yellow flames going up the sleeves, and it should offer him some respite from the chill.

Christopher doesn't know what it is about little girls, maybe it is that their beautiful hearts causes them to run a little hotter, but they seem to be unaffected by the world around them.

Hannah chases the waves out and then squeals as they chase her back in. Christopher trained to always be prepared, pulls out his camera and saves these moments for the rest of the world, because he is sure this moment is something he could never forget even if he wanted to.

As he is watching the two very pretty little girls play and having fun, he realizes this is the ultimate freedom. The feeling of pride and joy overwhelms him and now he remembers why he joined the Army and went to war. It is a healing moment for him. He now realizes no matter what the liberals do to this country, they can never restrict away his America because it is found in the heart. More anger drains away.

Christopher sits down about twenty feet from the water and the girls put their shoes next to him. Finally Hannah braves the white foam of the pounding surf and lets the water catch her. She immediately shoots out of the water, runs to Christopher and flies into his lap. After she is turned around and facing the ocean Christopher wraps his arms around her.

She looks up at him and says, "That's cold."

Sarah comes over and grabs Hannah's hand and pulls her up. "Come on."

"I'm coming." and the girls go running down the beach with their arms out like the sea gulls that are nearby, and they are meandering like a Chinese dragon on their new year.

They get a little ways away and Sarah stops and turns around to Christopher. "Come on, Christopher."

"Yes ma'am." he says to where they can't hear it, but it still makes him smile.

He pushes himself up, grabs their shoes and follows in hot pursuit of two little girls who have been unleashed upon the world. Eventually they make it to the end of the beach where the rock formations jut out.

Sarah immediately starts to climb them. "Freeze. Just what do you think you are doing, young lady?"

"I got to do it last time."

"Only because I was up there first and stayed up there with you. You two can pose up against them, but they are way too sharp and jagged for you to be climbing up there on your own." Sarah moans for a moment, and then starts striking pretty poses. Christopher shakes his head in wonder. It seems he has been doing that a lot lately.

The constant going has at last started slowing the girls down. On the way back down the beach the girls take their shoes in one hand and take Christopher's hand in the other. The three of them walk back up the beach hand in hand, chattering away.

"I like the ocean."

"You do, huh? That's good. Me too. How about you, my precious Sarah?"

"Yep, me too." The girls start doing a skipping thing while still maintaining their handholds.

When they find a nice place Christopher takes a seat and the girls start building a sandcastle. It is a moment of serene peace and beauty. By lunchtime the girls have created a world of wonder with characters and causes.

"Maybe you two could write your book on that world you just created."

The girls look at each other and it is like a light comes on in both of them, as they realize and find the ability to picture what they are going to write about and just basically describe it from their mind's eye.

Soon the wind picks up even more, and as every minute goes by more and more clouds roll in. Not ten seconds after Christopher takes a host of pictures of them with their sandcastle the tide comes in, and like a villain of tyranny in a fairytale it tries to chip away at the beauty of the world.

Soon after that the girls start squirming like they got ants in their pants. They run over to Christopher and Sarah says, "We got sand in our shorts."

Christopher tries to hide his smile. "Go into the ocean just past your bottom half and shake it out."

"We'll get our shorts wet."

"Well, you just got hit by a wave a second ago, so they are a little wet already, and plus you can just put on your dresses. Since it's getting a little cold here we'll go find something else to do."