A Christmas Thank You

A Christmas Eve walk.    W. Matthew Hart                  11/18/22

On this day in December, my wife and I decided to walk on the beach together.

Thankfully the late afternoon was clear, calm, and cold Christmas Eve. We drove to Forest Beach in South Chatham and parked the car. Then, we opened the car doors and took off our shoes to slip our feet into wader boots. 

We left the car on this crisp, cold, windless afternoon. We watched the continued growth of the reddish glow of the sunset forming in the sky over Stage Harbor from the east, Monomoy Island to the south, and the horizon toward the west on this special December evening. The breeze from the southwest brought the distinctive smell of the hot coffee we brought with us. Sipping our coffee while walking, we realized that the coffee aroma reminded us that we would be having dinner and exchanging gifts with our family later.

Because the sun would be setting soon, we decided that we could still stroll on Forest Beach for a short walk before dark. As we walked toward the beach, we could see the beginning of the reddish glow of the sunset forming over Nantucket Sound as a light southwest breeze silently visited South Chatham.

Walking on the beach at low tide, we could feel and hear the frozen sand crunching under our feet because of the frost the previous night in this wet sand. As we watched and walked, the Sea Gulls and Terns in flight became more active and screeching with delight as they swooped down to the calm water's surface to snatch up their meal of minnows.

A flash of flickering light on the surface of the water's edge caught my attention. So, I stopped walking and noticed a transparent glass object floating in the shallow water. Then, I saw a bottle bobbing around in the water. Slowly I walked toward the water's edge and retrieved the bottle. Looking at the clear wine bottle, we noticed a tightly sealed cork with a white folded piece of stationery inside. To get the note out of the bottle, we would need a corkscrew to remove the tightly sealed cork. So, we decided to place the bottle between the rocks of a nearby jetty, continue our walk, and then retrieve the bottle when we returned. As we continued walking for about an hour, our memories and the resulting conversation began because of this wine bottle discovery and other times during our marriage.

Once during earlier days, I had become infatuated with a stunningly beautiful young lady with reddish-blond hair here frequently at Forest Beach during the summer months. I wanted desperately to find a way to speak to her and introduce myself. So, I decided to put a note in a wine bottle I found on the beach. I inserted the message in the bottle, sealed it, and placed it near her as she swam in the warm summer water. As planned, about ten minutes later, she discovered the bottle. Then as she went up toward the beach, after retrieving the bottle, she removed the cork stopper and read the note.

The rest was history, my request to meet her resulted in our being together for the rest of the summer, and our 'Summer Romance' grew more robust. Fortunately, for both of us, there was more than one first time on Forest Beach for this loving couple, including but not limited to their first kiss or the taste of wine. Tonight we fondly remembered that special past summer because of our time walking here on the beach. We also spoke at length about our thoughts and memories, including when we first met and when I proposed to my future wife here on Forest Beach. A year later, we exchanged vows on this beach in front of family and friends, celebrating with glasses of Chardonnay wine.

The bottle I retrieved today is similar, and I'll bet it once contained Chardonnay Wine. We both liked that same type of chilled wine throughout our time together. During our marriage, we must have consumed a hundred gallons of that Chardonnay at events such as our wedding, the children's christenings, birthdays, and anniversaries. During those times, a glass of wine, our love, and our family conversations kept us together. Seeing that bottle bobbing around in the shallow water today reminded us of those times when we watched our children learn to swim and play together in the Nantucket Sound surf.

Then we decided to go back, as we walked toward the sunset!

Looking toward the west at the clear sky and the sunset, we remembered other pleasant times during those earlier years. Then, for some reason, maybe because we were together, I began speaking out loud.

 "My fondest memories are when we first met, and I proposed to my future wife here on Forest Beach. A year later, we exchanged vows on this beach in front of our families and friends. Celebrating with glasses of Chardonnay wine. Seeing that bottle bobbing around in the shallow water today reminded me of those times."  

Then we began to approach the jetty where we had placed the bottle earlier. Gazing out toward Monomoy Point and Nantucket, we stopped for a moment with a distant look in our eyes. Then, as I turned, I noticed that the bottle was no longer in between the rocks. Instead, the rising tide must have reclaimed it, and silently the bottle drifted away on a new journey. Finally, the Nantucket Sound tide had come back in, and we found a granite bolder up on the beach to sit on and together watch the vividly beautiful conclusion of the sunset.

Now it was dark on this moonless night. As we walked toward the car, we were searching for streaking meteors. But instead, we were blessed to watch the rare, captivating magnificence of the blueish and red streaks of the Aurora Borealis erupting in the northern sky on this pitch-black and still night. So we continued to walk and watch this rare celestial performance, better known as 'Northern Lights' with its colorful cathedral effects streaking high into the dark northern sky and the unusual snapping crackling sounds. 

"Thank you, God," I said. "For that empty bottle, the sunset, and the Northern Lights! Because those incidents helped us remember those beautiful memories on Christmas Eve. As a result, we are looking forward to our future walks here on Forest Beach."