Ocean park Maine

I've been going to Ocean Park, Maine for over 30 years. It has long been our family's summer vacation destination since Heather was around 2 years old. It has a small town charm with a ice cream shop, a grocery store and of course a wonderful beach. This year's visit was different though. Heather, Brian, Erin and Theresa rented a place just a block from the beach and Susan and I stayed with my sister Shannon for a few days. The first day Heather was there she went for a walk on the beach and found a sand dollar. We used to find them all of the time but in the last few years we hardly ever found any. Heather posted a picture of it on facebook along with a story. It's been almost a year since the kid's mother Bev died. Heather felt that finding a sand dollar on her first day at the beach was like a signal from Bev that she was there. Heather brought Bev's ashes to Maine so that some of them could be left in the ocean. So on Tuesday night we all went down to the beach with Heather carrying Bev's urn in her backpack. It was low tide and we went out to a sandbar to sprinkle some of the ashes in the surf. As soon as we got there, Erin saw an edge of s sand dollar sticking out of the sand. Thinking it was just a piece of one, she picked it up and found out it was a whole sand dollar. Another sign? Maybe. We all took turns spreading some of the ashes in the sand and the surf. We then stood around remembering stories of Bev and Maine. After that, Heather said it would be fitting to go to the ice cream parlor for an ice cream. While we were there, Heather got a lime ricci, which was always Bev's favorite and put it on the table where we were all sitting. It was just like she was there with us, The rest of our time at Ocean Park was very relaxing. Susan and I spent time just sitting on the beach watching the waves come in. I could do that every day! Wednesday night we had a Maine clambake with steamers, lobsters and corn at Shannon's place. It was a fun night with much laughter and good food. I hope we can continue this tradition for many years to come.