6:30 AM, On the Beach

I took a rainy. early morning beach walk this morning- there weren't too many of us out there. A woman jogged past; I could tell she was a runner. She  had that lean runner's body- she wasn't out there for fun, but because she had to be. Shortly after she passed me she stopped and picked up a perfect crab shell, and then turned around and ran back to wherever she came from. I imagined that she was running back to her little boy, still home, asleep in his bed. And when he woke up she'd say, "Look what I found on the beach for you!" and he'd examine it, marveling at it's tiny spotted leopard print, and be happy.

For some reason, that made me want to cry.