After being gone for 11 days, we’re finally back home. It’s funny, walking into our house it felt huge. Going from small rooms in a 720 sq ft Beach Shack to our modest-size house, suddenly the rooms felt so much larger than I remembered and I found myself feeling overwhelmingly grateful for our 99 year old Craftsman.

Whenever we make our way down to the beach, I always try to bring a book with me. As I’ve gotten older I have found I crave sitting in a chair on the beach, listening to our kids playing and the waves crashing, and getting lost in a good book.

The number of forcibly displaced people is at an all time high in 2023, with figures exceeding 110 million humans who have been forced to flee their home from persecution, conflict, violence and human rights violations.

We are finally staying at the Beach Shack this week for the first time ever and so far, we’re having the best time, but…