It was the first day of autumn. At least, technically it was. The calendar had turned to September, the kids were supposed to be going back to school, and summer was officially packing its bags. Except mine weren't back yet. I could still hear their echoes around the house as they played, ran from room to room and somehow managed to make every corner of the house sound occupied. And I thought, *What better way to spend one of the last days of the summer holiday, even if it isn't really summer anymore, than at the beach?* So, the beach it was. I gathered everything I thought I might need. The boys' toys. My bag. My new book. Lip balm. My scarf. Sunglasses. Wipes. A blanket. Basically, everything required for a mother to casually sit on a beach for a couple of hours. We could have walked. The beach was ridiculously close. But naturally, we drove the less-than-two-minute journey instead. When we got out of the car, the boys were already excited. They walked ahead of me down th...