I recently had dinner with a friend of mine on Cape Cod. Whenever I visit, my main goal for the week is to make sure she sees the ocean. Because frequently she doesn't see it between my visits ... and sometimes I visit only a few times a year.

When I'm here we eat in restaurants overlooking the water, walk my dog on the beach, ride the bike path that runs along the shore. Whatever the season. Because Cape Cod is beautiful in every season of the year.

But many people who live on Cape Cod year round miss this - all of it. Go months without seeing their coast, or even thinking of it. My friend isn't alone; I hear the same thing from a lot of people who live on the Cape. They don't see the beach from month to month. Don't hike the silent, pine-needle-carpeted trails through the woods. Don't ride on the extensive bike paths that curve along the shore.

But they are invariably grateful when visitors drag them to the beauties of their own towns - often only minutes from their homes.

When I was living in Baltimore and traveling for work, I pondered, on a monthly basis, ways to make high-tech marketing pay on Cape Cod (long before telecommuting). Sometimes I flew through Boston. Two hours to kill at Logan before reboarding for Chicago, Dallas, Houston. Every time I was there, it seemed I heard the Hyannis flight called. You know the one. It takes off every hour, or half-hour, depending on time of day and year. You go down the secret stairs and walk out on the tarmac to climb into the plane under the open sky.

Sometimes I could hardly bear not getting on that plane. Once, I almost did - almost missed stage-managing an international conference for 2,000 people.

Now, it's a little different.

Now, it's OK that I don't live on Cape Cod.

Because when I go to Cape Cod, I love every minute of it. I thrive on the sun, the rain, the fog. I recharge my soul with gray-shingled houses on sandy beaches with seaweed-lined high-water marks. My heart is touched by eelgrass, burrs, salt marshes, sand in my car, sand in my bag, and often sand in my bed.

Maybe it's absence making the heart grow fonder. Maybe familiarity really does breed contempt. Maybe if I lived there I'd be one of the exceptions, enjoying every bit of the island's beauties to the utmost. Or maybe I wouldn't. Either way, I wouldn't trade my part-time primitive joy ... for any full-time mild appreciation ... ever.

So here's to all the people who live surrounded by Cape Cod beauty. I hope you're not waiting for your visitors. I hope you're reading this sitting on a dock with your back propped against a piling ... or on a boat off the coast ... or stretched out on a sandy beach.

And really, I hope you have sand in your bed tonight.

By BARBARA GAIL WARDEN
Cape Cod Times
(Published: September 21, 2006)