the beach house

My father bought the beach house when I was 13 years-old, in Delfim Verde condominum on Massaguaçu Beach. We spent many Summers there as well holidays and very cold days with the rain. This beach house was a part of our growing years. My father and his wife rebuilt the house and made a home from it.

For my father this place was made for us to use as a refuge from the noisy city, to make barbecues and of course, get a tan. He used to wake up us very early saying we have no time to lose, the sun was high already and we need to do a lot of exercise. Good memories.

The waves at Massaguaçu Beach are unique and you need to learn how to go inside the sea and come back, otherwise you will roll underwater until a good soul will save you from the waves... oh yes, I was there one time. My brothers, sister and I learned very well this 'mechanism' and we enjoyed uncountable afternoons at the water laughing together. Because the waves were very strong, it scared away the tourists. I also had a good time with my best friend whom I know since I was 9 years-old. How many hours we talked about our lives, wrote in the sand and picked up sea shells? How many times I walked with my father listening to his amazing stories? How many pictures I took with my camera through the years?

In the end of the beach, it has a lake, Lagoa Azul where once in a while, it's waters encounter the ocean. We could swim, kaiak and surf. At the lake we dived and took raw oysters to eat... crazy teenagers.

At the beach house, there is where my husband asked my father to married me; my daughter learned to walk; we celebrated Tuca's first birthday... In fact we lived at this house for 5 months when Tuca was a six month-old. We slept listening the waves and woke up with the smell of salt water. This was the only time my hubby got a tan. Like me, they learned to love this place.

My last time there was few months after my father passed away. I went there because my daughter wanted to visit Grandpa's beach house. I never returned. Without him it was an empty place forever, the end of this chapter in my life.

For many years everything was clean: the sand, the water, the lake... it was a common effort between the neighbors to always leave our beach as clean as possible. It was not discovered by others yet.

To my surprise, yesterday I saw a picture of this beautiful place, well not so beautiful now... the tourists finally discovered the lake at the end of the beach. They left their price: pollution, trash everywhere... you can number it.  With sadness, I read the article about it -where I spent my teenage years - it said the place is in danger because of the lack of cleanliness, illegal urbanization, etc. I also read about a few people and a couple organizations who are making an effort to preserve this place, and they are making much progress in this matter.

I'm glad and have hope in my heart that many families will discover the beach and will enjoy themselves as much my family did many years ago.

PS: I'm very thankful for my daughter who 'corrected' most of my English grammar :)