Crashing waves, disappearing beach

Today we walked on the beach - all eight feet of it!
The white-capped sea pummeled the sand, creating a ridge - a cliff against which the frothing water crashed and peeled back to sea.
The wailing wind heightened the ghostly feeling...Wind whipping shards of rain against our faces, and our backs as we turned away.
We finally climbed the weathered steps overMy son clung to my hand, and any slip of his tiny fingers sent my heart racing. At one point, water rushed over our ankles, followed by water that soaked my pants and flowed over my waist. I quickly hugged Jake to my body and planted my feet in the disappearing sand floor as the return waves pulled at our clothes like underwater spirits begging us out to share their fate.
the dunes and back to neighborhood streets. There we faced more icy rain and road shoulders filled to overflowing. This we met with typical Hindman attitude: my 54-year-old father, my 4-year-old son, my husband and I jumping through them to an equally boisterous rendition of Singing in the Rain.
Had we been pulled out to sea, this minor vacation adventure might never be recorded. But to my memory, it serves as the great meeting of all things Hindman: joy in the face of adversity.