Far Faaarrrr Rockaway!

Erica and I woke up a little late today and had a delicious breakfast with Edwin and his family. It was a quiet morning, so I went to the beach and sat on the boardwalk. The scene was great. I enjoyed getting to know the area. People strolled by doing their thing, completely ignoring me, which was oddly relieving. Random kids walked along the beach. I wondered why they weren't in school. It was almost uncomfortably cold outside, but good thinking weather.

Erica came out later to find me and we ended up crossing paths. I walked inside as she was stepping onto the boardwalk. We finally met up at a jetty. It was beautiful. The sky was a little grey. The wind was chilly and we struggled to sit there...but it was just gorgeous!

When we walked back to Edwin's, Erica and I gave Dave a call. He said he didn't have anything for us to do so we were faced with the question: Now what? The thing is, it was almost like God was forcing us to rest. We had been talking about how we were stressed out and needed respite...now that we had it, Erica and I didn't know what to do with it. 

So, we walked down the boardwalk to 116th street and ate at Belle Harbor. The restaurant was extremely quiet and nice. Just what we needed. We got the full on "spread" as Erica likes to call it. Bread, soup, dessert; coffee. The atmosphere was elegantly peaceful. 

We stayed there until late and walked back to Edwin's. The youth pastor for Edwin's church, Mike, took us to Christ Tabernacle further down in Queens. Instead of a service, they were having a social night. Erica and I mingled at church and I was amazed at how many people were there. We met two fun peeps named, Charles and Shawn. It was fun to see a different side to New York besides the touristy perspective. 

I enjoyed getting to see more sides of Brooklyn than I believe I would have ever seen otherwise. The city captured my heart and it is just what I needed. I would love to be in a place like Brooklyn. On our way back to Edwin's, Charles and Mike kindly rode the train back with Erica and I. So nice of them! We got back to Edwin's late and Erica and I crashed.