Patches Beach

During Work Safe Week our team received the usual list of stress relief remedies.  Boy, do we need them at times.

One piece of advice I don’t remember seeing before was to have an object that reminded you of something good and peaceful nearby.  I think in the past I would have dismissed this notion.  But that was before the stone.

In the first week of January my family rented a house at Patches Beach.  On the beach, in the middle of nowhere, the weather was crappy.  We walked the dogs on the beach, watched lots of DVDs and my daughter and I repainted our nails everyday – testing out the nail polishes she got for Christmas.

All, in all a very quiet and relaxing holiday was had.

The beach was home to some nice flat smooth rocks.  As a gift back to the house and its future occupants, we used nail polish to paint ‘Patches Beach’ on a rock and left it behind.  I also bought one home with me.

Then hell broke loss.  Literally, the day we came home the flooding began.  Then the rebuilding began.  The long, long days.

Somehow, clutching my smooth painted stone brought back the relaxing quiet holiday.  It was possibly the only relaxing week we have had all year.