The Diary of Joy

Beach fun

7. Peace, the year of the Phoenix

Dear Angel,

Today was an awesome day, it seemed to have been made to match my wishes since it had all of my favorite things, it truly was the day of Joy. My parents woke me up early in the morning and told me that since both of them managed to get a day off from work we would get to have a family outing.

Family outings are one of my favorite things ever because we get to hang out together in some unique and beautiful place, and we always have a lot of fun.
Our parents, unique as they are, never tell us where we are going beforehand but want to surprise us and all of us love that. Even though Chatterbox sometimes complains about it, I know that he actually quite enjoys the mystery of it all.
You might be wondering what kind of outings do we go to and that is a difficult question to answer because there is a bit of everything.

On the last family outing, we went exploring a magical cave and although I generally am not so fond of the caves I had an amazing time on that little adventure.
On the outing before that one, we climbed to the top of the waterfall, so you can imagine how exciting we always are when the words family outing leaves our parents mouth.
Our parents do all the packing for us, which is not a difficult thing to do when you have magic so that we wouldn't get any hint to where we are going, they want it to be a complete surprise.

As you can imagine, from all of my siblings I was the most excited one because sometimes it is truly difficult to control my enthusiasm and not to start floating up from happiness.
Once I hit the ceiling that usually clears my head and mom always laughs heartily and says that I am just like her.
I really love when she says that because she is awesome and I would love nothing more than to be like her once I grow up.

While she and dad prepared us for the trip, my siblings and I were chattering excitedly about what the next place might be because we loved guessing, although we never did guess it right.

My friends tell me that their parents never do anything as fun as that and I can't understand why not since it's fun for both the children and the parents.
I guess not everyone's parents are as awesome as ours.
I mean they broke all the possible rules just to be together, and they are already the talk of the magical world so why wouldn't they just do what they want and have fun instead of worrying what the others might say?

Anyway, once they prepared our and their stuff, they blindfolded us and flew us to our destination.
Magic is such a useful gift, don't you think? It allows even the beings that have no true magic in their blood, such as my siblings, to experience the joy of flying, the excitement and the freedom of it all.

Once we arrived at our destination I was pretty sure I knew where we were since I could smell the mixture of cold water and salt and there was only one place that smelt that wonderful, the ocean.
When they took off our blindfolds I could see that I was right and that we were at the beach overlooking the ocean.

"The beach!!!!" I shouted excitedly.
"This is not only the beach. This is OUR beach. This is the place where your father and I went on our first real date." Mom said.
As she said that, she looked at dad with a huge smile on her face no doubt remembering that magical evening.

"Where is the restaurant where you had dinner?" Chatterbox asked remembering the story we have all heard so many times before.
"Unfortunately it moved on. You see it is a magical traveling restaurant that moves each week or so to the places with the most beautiful views.
Still, your dad and I did prepare a feast for you guys, the place would just be a bit more modest than where we went on the date." Mom said.

"You guys, go play while we set everything up. Oh, and Joy come here! I need to put a duck's feather spell on you." She added.
"What a strange spell. What does it do?" I asked.
"It's just what I call it. That's not its the actual name, of course. The spell stops your wings from getting wet even when you are in the water.

Instead of soaking your wings, the water glides off of them so you don't have to worry about getting wet." She answered.
"Cool," I said.

After she finished putting the spell on me, I went off with my brothers and sister to enjoy the beach.
Just standing on the beach and looking at the waves crashing on the shore was breathtaking.
The power and beauty of the ocean were not lost on me, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The water that was splashing my feet was the clearest blue I have ever seen but I could see in the distance the change of color in the water.
Some parts were light blue, some dark blue but others were even green which I don't remember ever seeing before.
I could feel the gentle tickle of the sand on my soles as it moved under the influence of the waves and I loved the feel of it.

As I was quietly contemplating and enjoying the quiet beauty of it all, my brothers and sister immediately went in splashing all around like wild.
They sure did chase away the quiet air by screaming and splashing around. Knowing that there was no way for me to calm them down I decided to join them instead.

As I jumped in, I shivered at the coldness of the water but I knew it just seemed cold, that soon enough it would be warm enough for me to splash around as well.
Even though some water managed to enter my eyes, ears, and nose, I still had a lot of fun doing the Splash Wars with my brothers and sister.

You must be wondering what Splash Wars are?
Well, it's just a game we play, not so different from regular splashing around, but still, we find it more fun.
We divided into two teams, this time it was Peace and me against Chatterbox and Mischief and the wars began.
The winner is usually the one who is left as the last one standing.

So we splash each other using hands jumping in the water and so on, in turn, some of us lose balance and sink in for a second, that's when they lose, that's what I mean by the last one standing.

Let's face it this game of ours can last for hours sometimes since neither one of us sinks so easily, but yesterday we had to quit before the end of the game because we were hungry and mom and dad did say that everything was ready.

When we went back to the shore, dripping wet, we were stunned by what we saw.
They made a small structure that I wasn't sure how to call.
It had a roof supported by different beams, and they made improvised tables and chairs.
The table was set and a lot of different meals beckoned us with their amazing aroma.
Near the structure, there was a small spring that wasn't there before and in the freshness of the cold water, I could see some juices cooling down.

It wasn't a fancy restaurant but it sure was the cutest thing I have ever seen.
Mom even brought in some flowers that decorated the house-like structure.
They were the most beautiful pink flowers that spoke of gentleness and beauty that I connected with her, so I assumed that those particular flowers were her marvelous invention.

Dad, on his part, was baking something over the fire wearing what I guess humans would call an apron. We have been learning a lot about human culture and everyday life because of my brothers and sister, so I do hope I got that one right.
On the front of it, there was written: "I am in charge. In charge of doing what my wife says."
I couldn't help but giggle at that although I did seem to be the only one who found it funny.
Dad was sometimes so odd in a fun and wonderful way.

We all sat down around the improvised tables and had the most delicious meal I have ever had.
What made the meal special was not only the food or the way it was prepared but the whole atmosphere, the beach, the ghost of the past and the family circle.
All of those were the ingredients that made everything so much better.

Oh, no Chatterbox is coming. I better hide you. If he finds out about you, everyone else will know in a matter of seconds.

Until next time,

Lots of love,

Joy