Kites on the Beach in March

On a windy Saturday in March, my partner and I drove to the beach with two cheap kites we'd bought at a drugstore. It was cold and gray and nobody else was there.

Within minutes, both kites were up, dancing and swooping over the waves. The wind was so strong we had to lean back to hold them. A family with two kids arrived, saw us and ran back to their car for their own kite. Then a group of college students. Then an old man with an enormous box kite that he'd clearly built himself.

By noon, there were twelve kites in the sky, all different colors, and a dozen strangers standing on the cold beach laughing, holding strings, chasing tangles.

We drove home windburned and happy. We bought better kites the next week. We've gone back every March since.