My Favorite Class Ever!

So I just completed a class on Writing Workshop this June.  It was 15 afternoons during the month, and was a joy to attend each day.  I was introduced to writers' workshop my first year of teaching and loved teaching with this concept when I was in the classroom.  When I heard that there was a National Writing Project site in this area, I was so excited to participate.  This summer was not a traditional Summer Institute because of funding cuts this past year, but it was still everything that I knew it would be.  We had a wonderful group of students that created a writing community very quickly.  We learned more each day about being writers and being teachers of writing.  Here is one of the pieces that I wrote during this class.  These are memories from a long time ago, so I'm not sure some of the details are accurate, but it's what I remember.  I still might work on it a bit, but here is what I've got so far.

One Idyllic Afternoon
By Marla Robertson

Cannon Beach, Oregon - Photo taken by Amber Robertson 2010

I remember going to the lush, green Oregon Coast for the first time.  My family was living in Big D, land of Southfork Ranch, high-rise skyscrapers, and a million people.  From that crowded hot place, we loaded up our three small children and flew up to Portland to see Grandma and Grandpa Robertson, my husband’s parents.  We had made this trip many times before.  John worked for American Airlines so we could fly pretty cheap, but it was still a hectic four hour flight with three children, two toddlers and a baby – a challenge in any circumstance.  Most of the time we just stayed at Grandma’s house and visited and visited and visited; sometimes going to a different relatives’ house to visit and visit and visit.  But for this trip – Aunt Kathy had decided that we needed to see her favorite spot on the coast – Cannon Beach.  We loaded up the car and set out for a day trip through the Coast Range, headed for Cannon Beach, a quaint seaside town built around Haystack Rock, one of the “sites to see” in the area.  Being from Texas and this being summertime, we had not thought about packing sweatshirts.  “It can’t possibly be that cold in Oregon!  It’s 98⁰ here” we thought.  Little did we know that the Pacific Ocean at Cannon Beach ranges in the high 50’s to low 60’s at this time of year, and there is a constant steady breeze on the beach all year round, the perfect place for kite flying!  However, children are fearless, and when we got to the beach they headed for the wet sand and salty ice-cold water.

One of the fun things to do on the beach is look for shells like limpets and “china hats” and rocks like polished agates that have been washed up by the ocean.  Marcus, our oldest son, was about four or five years old and had never been to a beach before.  He just loved digging in the wet sand and building sand castles.  I even got caught up in the excitement and ended up in the freezing water looking for fingernail sized sand dollars, one of the things that could be found on this particular stretch of beach.  It was an idyllic afternoon for my small children and for me, as we were not “beach people”.  I could see why Kathy had so many wonderful childhood memories of this place.  The town was full of unique little stores, made mostly of grey weathered wood. Bruce’s Candy Kitchen was a favorite stop for the kids.  They could see the salt water taffy through the front window being pulled and wrapped by a machine and have their pick of all kinds of colorful candies.  The unique bright pink exterior could be seen for blocks amid the weathered grey. 

Cannon Beach, Oregon - Photo taken by Amber Robertson 2010

Little did we know on that day that this place would become a regular excursion for our family as we ended up moving to Oregon a couple of years later and made regular trips to Grandma and Grandpa’s family beach house.  This day trip to the beach must have piqued their interest and encouraged them to find a place to have future family gatherings at Grandma’s favorite place, the beach.  However, for our oldest son Marcus, it would turn out to be his only trip to Cannon Beach.  That idyllic afternoon would be his only chance to be buried in the sand, to splash in the chilly water, and to search for sand dollars, as he died a couple of years later of meningitis.  Through the ensuing years all of our other children have created wonderful childhood memories of family visits to Cannon Beach and the majestic Oregon Coast; playing with cousins, flying kites in the perpetual breeze, searching tide pools for starfish and colorful anemone, roasting marshmallows on the beach as the sun set on the vast Pacific Ocean, meandering the surf at low and high tide, viewing the misty coastline from the viewpoint at Ecola State Park.  But for me there was always that sense of something missing – of a gap-toothed little boy who would never have the chance to create those childhood memories of the beautiful Oregon Coast – except for that one idyllic afternoon.

Cannon Beach, Oregon - Photo taken by Amber Robertson 2010