“We should take our kids to the beach this summer,” Jacob said, a few years into our marriage

It’s a perfect, cloudless day at the beach.

My daughter, Ella, shrieks when the tide rushes up and wraps around her ankles. My son, Ari, makes grooves in the sand with his toy rake. My husband is snorkeling. He emerges to wave, and Ella points and shouts, “I see Daddy! I see Daddy!”

I breathe in the sea air. The sun warms my closed eyelids. I feel a tug on my swim dress, and when I open my eyes, my daughter’s brown eyes are pleading, “Mommy, help me find seashells.”

Where the water meets the sand, Ella finds a gray-striped seashell, curved like a scoop, with one side ridged and the other smooth. Ari takes it with chubby fingers.

We walk along the seashore hand in hand, water lapping at our feet.