Dancing on the beach in bare feet. What a careless thing to do. You could get glass in your feet, or step on a sharp rock. And what on earth are you wearing? It's too cold out; you'll get sick. Get back in the house this minute, girls. It'll be dark, soon, anyway, and you shouldn't be out after dark. That's when the bad men come out.

Sometimes, I wish I could be like you. Innocent, with the world ahead of me. Able to do silly things like dance on the beach at sunset without worrying about the consequences. But that part of me died when I became a mother. Now it's all worry, nag, worry.

But later tonight, when you girls are asleep, maybe I'll run along the beach after dark barefoot. Because you know, sometimes you have to risk getting hurt in order to live.