I sat on the beach, my toes curled in the warm sand and fingers drawing lazy figure eights while the late March sun broke through the wispy clouds and shone on my face. I took in a deep breath of the salty sea air and smiled at the beginning of spring, my favorite season. In a way, it was a new beginning for everything in my life. Starting over was never easy, especially when it wasn’t your choice. He had left on a rainy January night when the wind howled and the shutters clattered against the house, creating an eerie loneliness that I hadn’t been able to shake. Today was the first day I had ventured out and sought refuge at my safe harbor – the beach. There was something so peaceful about the rhythmic waves surging and ebbing, crashing against the shore without end. A timelessness, a faithfulness that only nature could command.