beaches and wheelchairs

today i witness something beautiful.

i came down to savannah to see my family and go to the beach - it took getting past a lot of indecisiveness in coming because it was supposed to rain all week. anyways, i'm here now and today i went to the beach with my aunt for a couple of hours.

i love the beach - i love the breeze and the sun, the water and the sand, and the sounds of the beach. i love how uninhibited people are and how confident they appear to be at the beach - i love watching little kids build sand castles and even adore it more when it's me, my brothers and my mom building one of our own. i like just laying there, maybe reading maybe not - but just being. and while all these things make the beach beautiful to me, today i saw something that made it even more lovely.

there's a couple in tybee island, i saw them over spring break and again today. he's black and she's white, they're both older - which i mention only so you can get an idea of what they look like. today, he wore black cotton pants and a white tee with a black baseball cap, she wore loose fitting pants that she could pull up, a tan brace around her wrist, and sunglasses that moved from her face to her hair, which was pulled back in a pony tail. i don't know how they're related - maybe they're friends, lovers, married, dating - maybe they're all of those things combined. today - they were beautiful.

in a strength unpossessed by any body builder i've ever seen, he battled the strength and the crazy breeze, wheeling her down the beach to the ocean in her wheelchair. the beach was not smooth, in fact it dipped a bit with some deep sand before leveling out. the mini "cliff" of sand was hard enough to walk up because your feet would sink down into it, but they made it down to the ocean and "parked." she had pulled up her pajama-like pants and put her feet into the water, and he stood, unwavering, behind her for about an hour.

the tide came in fast - a bit too fast, and me and my aunt went to move our chairs up a bit. we set our stuff down and then noticed that the water had softened the sand underneath the woman's chair and the man was having a hard time pulling her back. he tried, but the slippery sand caught him and he fell backwards. my aunt ran over to help him up and together with another passerby they moved the woman back from the rising water. they stayed down at the water's edge for a while longer before thanking my aunt and moving back up the beach. i watched him as he tried to get up the difficult dip in the deep sand again. he tried, and was slowly succeeding until another man walking by helped him in the final push. i was trying not to stare but it was so hard not too - it was like i was transfixed - fascinated by this picture.

still staring, i watched as this man made sure the woman was comfortably in place, before going to sit down in his chair - i stared harder as she brushed off the wet sand remaining on his back after his fall, and then watched him sit down. to my surprise, i watched him take a seat in his own wheelchair.

a few minutes later we packed up our things and began heading back to the car, where we passed the couple one more time before leaving. we wished them a good afternoon and they said thank you once again, and that was it.

still, the image is preciously burned into my mind. it was a beautiful image of strength, love, commitment, and humility. it demonstrated a love for the little things - like just feeling the water with your feet, or standing faithfully beside, behind, and with the one that you love. it was a picture of sacrefice - he didn't complain, or argue that she should push him down to the water - instead, he braved the uncomfortable so that she might experience a bit of joy.

maybe i'm reading into it way to much - but i don't care. it's still beautiful.