pure life

I wanted to show you a picture of a little girl from the school in La Cruz. I took it when we went to the beach with the families.
Here is the link (the picture adding feature isn't working).
I posted it to Facebook under the name "pure life". That is the literal meaning of the popular Costa Rican phrase pura vida, which is a greeting, a good-bye, or a "what's up". And I called it that because of the simple spontaneity of the picture itself. It was amazing and beautiful to see people having such fun doing something so simple.
And then we flash back to America.
Usually American family outings at the beach are hectic and stressful. There are millions of things running through our minds. Did we bring enough sunscreen? Do we have the cooler with all the snacks and drinks? How about towels? Did we remember to bring the goggles so water doesn't get in our eyes? What about the surf boards and the inner tubes and the toys?
And we usually spend all of our time caught up in these things that we forget to have fun. We're too worried about everything - is the umbrella covering all of our stuff? Is sand blowing into our towels? - that we don't know how to let loose and enjoy.
But on this beach, everyone, including the moms (fully clothed too) got in the water and had fun with their kids.
It was the purest form of life I had seen. Kids appreciating what they have and having an amazing time with friends and family.