Sand Between My Toes

Until two years ago when Life as we knew it hit Pause, my writer pals as I gathered every year on Martin Luther King weekend at the beach house in Northern California owned by my sister Karen’s family. In 2021 we had a change in plans due to COVID, as did pretty much every person on the planet affected by the pandemic. No traveling. No beach house. No reunion. We had hopes for 2022, but alas, it was not to be.

Today I’m reflecting on the small miracle that was, and hopefully will be again the annual Beach Babes reunion. It began eight years ago with an invitation…”Hey, guys, I have the use a house on the beach for the month of January. Any interest in coming for a long weekend?” What were the chances all five women, scattered across the country and in Canada in the case of my friend Sam, each with a busy life of her own, would be able to make the trip? That first year the response to my invitation was a resounding “Yes!” They all showed up—Jen, Francine, Julie, Meredith, and Sam—and we had the first of many magical girls’ weekends to come. Weekends featuring morning coffee klatches in our PJs, cocktail hours that stretched into the wee hours when we shared confidences on the deck beneath the stars, and days of brainstorming sessions interspersed with long walks on the beach. The following year we were joined by my friend Josie Brown, who lives in San Francisco. We became a family as close-knit as any blood family. We stay in touch via text and email throughout the year and meet in groups of two, or three, or more whenever the opportunity arrives. We’ve worked on projects together, laughed together, cried together, cheered each other’s successes, mourned each other’s failures, and supported each other during difficult times.

We’ve been together long enough to share memories of the highs and lows of years past. There was the year road closures caused by mudslides resulted in a 9-hour drive from the airport to the beach house—the girls were starving and loopy with exhaustion by the time they finally arrived around 2 a.m. There was the year Julie and Sam both saw their debut novels published, which both went on to become bestsellers. There was the year we had our first dinner at Persephone, the newly opened restaurant owned by my sister and her husband, where their daughter and my niece Cori is head chef.

We’ve seen one another through the roller coaster ride of writing and submitting novels that were rejected before they ultimately a home with a publisher; family emergencies; health issues (including an “exploding” eyeball); relationship issues; and most recently, a spouse’s cancer scare.

We have our Beach Babes’ traditions. Dinner cooked by me on the first night, followed by a girls’ afternoon at the spa, a dinner out, a tea party at my sister Karen’s, our “skinny salad” lunch (see recipe below). Takeout from the nearby gourmet market on the last night. Then goodbyes are exchanged and the countdown begins for the next BB reunion.

COVID put a crimp in our plans, but we feel blessed that no one in our group became ill or died, or suffered a financial setback. If the worst we suffered was missing a couple of years at the beach house, we got off easy. That said, we miss it something fierce. I knew just how much when, in a recent group email, someone wrote that as “horrific” as the 9-hour drive from hell was the year of the mudslides, she wished she were in that van now. The others chimed in, “Me too.” That says it all.

Here’s hoping 2023 sees the return of the Beach Babes’ reunion and sand between our toes.

OPEN-FACE BURRITO WITH JICAMA-AVOCADO SALAD
Serves 2
Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit
For burrito:
2 corn or whole-wheat tortillas
2 -3 teaspoons olive oil, divided
6 to 8 (or more, depending on how thick you want it) heaping tablespoons canned refried beans, divided
8-10 tablespoons shredded Jack cheese, divided
Jarred green chili salsa, to taste (such as Mrs. Renfro’s green jalapeno chili salsa)
For salad:
I cup peeled, cubed jicama
I peeled, cubed avocado
1 small to medium tomatillo, diced
Approximately ¼ cup chopped cilantro (or more, according to your taste)
1 medium tomato, diced
3-4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Salt and red pepper flakes to taste
Jarred or packaged mild or medium-hot tomato salsa (optional)
Place tortillas on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Smear olive oil over both sides of both tortillas with hands. Dot one side of each tortilla with half of the refried beans and smooth into a fairly even layer with a knife. Sprinkle cheese over tops. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or so, until cheese is melted and tortillas are golden brown and crispy around the edges.

Place ingredients for the salad in a bowl and toss with lemon juice, salt, and red pepper to taste.

Dot green chili sauce over the bean-cheese mixture on tortillas, to taste. Spoon half of the salad over each tortilla. Spoon a tablespoon or so of tomato salsa on top of salad on each salad, if desired.