A Place To Be

Summer is pretty much over here in New England.  While I love fall with it's gorgeous leaves, cooler temps and of course the pumpkin spice, I am also sad that it's here.  Summers are too short and always seem to end so abruptly.  The typical New England summer starts mid-June and it seems like it ends right on Labor Day.
This year we were invited to our neighbors grandparents home in Rhode Island, about a 2 hour drive away, to hang out and go to the beach.  It was quite fun but I am NOT a beach person.  I would love to be one, but I'm not.  I'm paranoid enough when my girls are running around swimming pools, let alone when they want to boogie board and swim in the ocean.  Lydia and I enjoyed the surf and the sand from our beach blankets while the girls had a blast making sand castles and playing in the waves.
Being at the house near the ocean reminded me of why I want a small shack by the beach.  Even if it's small and only has 2 bedrooms, a living area and kitchen it would still be a fun place to congregate and have friends and family to.  I've often thought that the bigger beach homes are a bit over rated but a small cottage would definitely be a fun place to spend summer nights with friends while the kids sleep all bunked out in one room.  As long as there's a place for the kids to run around and enough room for a few sleeping bags on the floor, and an area for a fire pit who really needs a huge place?
My neighbors say they would rather just go to a hotel but for me, having that place we could go and invite people to join us at would be ideal.  We try to do that with our home now but I think people feel like they're intruding where as with a beach house or lake house it would be a welcome intrusion.  People could do their own thing during the day and then meet back at night for dinner or ice cream.  The expectation of visiting and being "stuck" would not be there as I think it's almost expected with a beach house that you'll be off on your own.  And if you choose not to be, it would be so relaxed that it would be ok... no one is stuck or forced and there would be no hard feelings if someone chose to nap instead of partaking in conversation.
Maybe that's just my idealized version of a beach house and what it should be there for... or really any vacation experience.  Maybe what's in my head is never truly the reality that will be, but this is how I would want it to be.  I'll keep dreaming...