Growing up, my siblings and I would spend the winter season months at our aunts beach house.
My mother, being a school professor, would take us to his siblings beach house a few hours away for a month each winter season break. My pal and I consistently looked forward to this trip with our mom because he grew up on the ocean… Where we lived, there was no beach, however he and my aunt taught us to love the ocean. My pal and I would surf, swim and kneel out in the sun learning books all day. My number one part of going to the beach house in the winter season was the wood burning fireplace that was used to heat the house! The house we lived in did not have a fireplace. I consistently found the glow of the fire to be soothing and calming, especially in combination with the waves crashing on the nearby coast… Periodically, it would get so cold in the family rooms that we would bundle up next to the fireplace and stay there all night. One night it was so cold that me, my sibling and my mom all slept in the family room near the wood burning fireplace. My aunt had another fireplace in his family room, so he was fine. But, there was no other heating in the rest of the house. I consistently loved spending the winter season breaks with my aunt at his beach house and I suppose that is something that I will take with me for the rest of my life. Without those experiences, I might have never come to love the ocean as much as I do.