Pieces of Heaven

This weekend was a special weekend as I joined family and friends of The Smith Family to celebrate the 21 years of their son, Cole's, life. His passing was unexpected and all too soon, but he certainly lived life to its' fullest and reminded us all, this weekend, to do the same. He once said that heaven is in the sunsets. It is no coincidence, then, that this week has given us the most beautiful sunsets of the summer, and as a result, Cole had us all standing still for a moment to enjoy heaven and to feel a little closer to him.

Saturday was probably the most beautiful morning of the summer. The normal fog layer that usually blankets the coast was nonexistent. It was so clear that I could see Catalina Island and Palos Verdes in the distance. The morning was far more beautiful than I could describe, so I will let the pictures do the talking...

This is my favorite picture of the bunch. It's Cole dad, coming in from the paddle out, with Cole's board under his arm. Those red blobs on the board are actually Cole's handprints. During the paddle out, as all the friends and family surrounded the Smith family, Steve (Cole's dad) spun around on the board, proudly sharing a piece of his son. 

 Cole had me smiling Sunday evening, as I stood looking out my bedroom window at this.

Cory and I spent the rest of Saturday at Lake Elsinore with the Coelho family. Cory met Garrott on his mission and they have remained close friends ever since. It was my first time meeting Garrott's family, but I told him after that I decided, whether they like it or not, that we are adopting them as our third family. They are the nicest people you will ever meet, and there is never a dull moment with them as they are always laughing and enjoying life. I tried wakeboarding for the first time and got up once for maybe 2 seconds! I am still sore, but I had so much fun.

Yesterday, for the holiday, Cor and I decided to get together with his sister and brother-in-law (who live only 10 minutes away) and go to Hermosa Beach. His sister does beach swims and someone just showed her a sand dollar colony on 28th Street. Even though it was extremely overcast, the water was warm and we got to see tons of them! Did you know sand dollars are actually covered in some kind of purple fur and stand up on their sides? So different from the beautiful white things we find laying flat and sun-bleached on the beaches. While diving in the sand dollar colony, I came across a skate fish and freaked out! You see, the visibility was extremely poor, so it wasn't until the fish was inches away from my face that I realized what it was! And it doesn't help that it's this freaky looking, stingray resembling, bottom dwelling, brown thing! I was out of there so fast, but that skate fish probably was too after it heard my underwater, muffled scream. 

This weekend made me realize that we need to remember to appreciate the beauty of life and to live it to its' fullest. Let us all stand still for a while and enjoy the beauty in the world, for "anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old" (Kafka).