In September 1982 we shared a Gite with our friends Ann and Don in Brittany.
The group nearest the centre of this underpopulated beach at Bréhec include Jessica, Ann, and Sam.
a string of gleeful children danced their way to the ocean;
a lone woman passing them traversed the beach.
Hand in hand, Jessica and Ann led Sam into the water
and swung him to meet the wavelets.
Ann continued the gymnastics
while Jessica went for a paddle.
Sam dried off, and told his sister all about it.
On another occasion I watched a woman enjoying a paddle.
At our numerous barbecues Don was master of the coals.
It was at that time that Sam received his first cut. I still remember my sadness at my beautiful boy having suffered his first blemish. During Siesta time, when, of course, nothing was open, we came across a broken shop window. ‘Don’t’, said I, as our three-year old made a dive for the broken glass. Too late. He grabbed it and brought some away in the palm of his hand. Which I could not get him to open. Even if I could I would need a pair of tweezers. We found the duty chemist which was open. She had some tweezers. But how was I going to get Sam to expose his palm? She smartly provided the solution. Out came a bag of sweets. Our lad could not resist one. Poised, tweezers in hand, I knew I had, at best, one chance. Sam’s fingers spread tentacles and snaked out for the sweet. I swooped with the tweezers. The implement secured and withdrew the shard of glass. Sam ate his sweet and we bade the woman goodbye.
Ann bought an ice cream and provided a cuddle, and all was well.
One of the most memorable moments of this holiday was the return journey. Ann had decided she may have exceeded her tobacco allowance, so Jessica and I carried a quantity of our friend’s cigarettes in our car. We followed Ann and Don off the ferry. They waved as they drove off into the sunset. We were stopped and our yellow Renault was subjected to a full body search
Those are adorable photos of Sam, and I am glad you and the duty chemist were able to get get the glass away from him with sweets!
Many thanks, Lavinia
I’m glad the glass was removed from his hand! Why was your car searched?
Customs. We had no tobacco ourselves and the amount of Ann’s that we took was below the limit. Despite, or maybe because of, two small children on board they picked us out. Thanks a lot, John
Sure hope you weren’t transporting too much tobacco. The beach pictures are wonderful. I especially like the line of kids dancing toward the ocean. What joy! Glad Sam could be bribed with sweets. Would work with me, even now. 😉
Thanks very much, Laurie. We had none of our own, and Ann’s were below the limit 🙂
Good!
The line of kids dancing toward the ocean is my favorite photo, too! I remember those days well.
Those photos of Sam are precious. The search sounds scary.
It was. Thanks a lot for you understanding, Mrs W,
You’re welcome.
The irony of helping a friend out whilst travelling … this is an interesting account of what must have been a happy holiday. Even then you had a keen eye for interesting people and actions to photograph.
Thank you so much, Anne
Beautiful photos of the seaside and charming photos of Sam. It’s good the chemist was open. That stop and search sounds frightening.
Thanks very much, Merril. Annoying rather than frightening.
Oh, that’s good.
What a darling little boy! Such great photos… too bad about the cut hand. The hair cut looks very nice!
Thank you so much, Dwight
You are welcome!
Lovely post and my goodness, Sam! What a gorgeous baby!💕
Thank you so much, Laura 🙂
Beautiful memorabilia!
Thank you very much, Alexander
Sam had so much fun that day, I could see it in his face. Great pictures.
Thanks very much, Bridget
I just love the way you describe the scene of tricking Sam to open his cut hand. You do have a way with words!
Thank you so much, Liz
You’re welcome, Derrick.
Thanks for sharing 🙏. I enjoyed every bit of the post.
Thank you very much, Eunice
🙏🙏
What precious photos of Sam! 🙂 Great photos of the others, too!
The ocean brings out the child in so many of us! 🙂
Glad the sweets helped Sam get his hand attended to. And an afterwards-ice-cream helps a person feel better. 😉
Our children’s hurts (be they physical or emotional) are always so painful to us parents.
Yikes on the car search! 😮 That would unnerve me.
(((HUGS))) 🙂
Thank you very much, Carolyn. We were more annoyed than upset about the car search – we new we had no contraband. X
What a fantastic photograph of the beautiful boy
Thanks very much, John
Delightful little boy. It’s a shame they must grow up.
Thanks a lot, Sherry 🙂
No good deed goes unpunished. Sam was a beautiful little lad.
Thank you so much, Pat
Such a beautiful wide beach offering space for a line of gleeful dancing children. Wonderful photos, Derrick! Thank you for this delightful post with a twist at the end. The car search must’ve been scary, but within the broad perspective of all your posts, and in retrospect, it was part of the big adventure.
It was indeed, JoAnna. Thank you very much
Out of curiosity, did you keep a bit of Sam’s hair? I still have the ‘first curl’ that my mother saved. It’s tied with a pink ribbon and has lived all these years in a tiny envelope.
Sam was a beautiful little boy, Derrick!
He certainly was, AnneMarie. Thank you so much
From the title, I thought you meant Sam’s first haircut. That would have been heartbreaking, too, as he looks so adorable with it curling around his ears and falling in his eyes. And that ice-cream shot! It’s not only the dairy product that melts 🙂
That’s lovely, Gwen. Thanks very much
It’s so painful when our little ones are hurt. I’m glad the injury was minor.
Thanks very much, Alys
Certain moments glitter like imperishable stars in the skies of yesterday, rushing in wavelets of memories tinged with longing, pain or joy. Beautiful photographs, as ever.
Thank you so much, Uma
A day at the beach! Looks like you all had an enjoyable time. Was it a first for Sam and his sister?
I don’t think so, Doug. Thanks a lot
A surgical gloves moment. Great pictures in this post Derrick.
Thanks very much, Andrew
Delightful photos of Sam, Derrick.
Thanks very much, Lindsey
What a beautiful child he was.
He was, Sue. And still lives up to it. Thanks very much
<3
X
Such memories. A sweet child.
Thank you very much, Rupali
Another wonderful post, Derrick. The pain of a child’s first injury – it will stick with you forever. Sam, on the other hand, probably has no memory of it at all.
I’ll ask him. Thanks very much, Jodie
Sam was a truly beautiful child, as all your children have been.
Thank you so much, Dolly
My pleasure, Derrick.
Oh, sorry for his accident. It is amazing to find your smile in the little boy’s smile, Derrick!
Thank you so much, Byung
A beautiful time with lovely photos! Sweets area always a good solution 😉
Thanks very much, Ribana
What a beautiful boy! So sad that he cut himself so young although he probably forgot all about it a few hours later. Children are so attracted by what is dangerous. It is difficult to keep them safe all the time,
Quite so, Geetha. Thanks very much
Such gorgeous photos of Sam.
x
Thanks very much, Melanie X