Upon return home to Maine after a long week of finals, packing, and yeah, a few tears, I began to unpack a year of my college life. As this was a very hectic process with the abundance of clothing and materials I had accumulated over the year, I was determined to do one thing — and that was to run towards the beach.

As everything began to be unpacked, I knew exactly what I had to do the following day.

As the following day happened to be the day I am writing this article, I spent today at the pier with my best friend, Maria. Although today's weather was cloudy, it was so refreshing to be able to prance around the beach.

Being only twenty minutes from Old Orchard Beach, and really any water, I am so lucky to be able to take these trips whenever I want to. I spent the day devouring pier fries, grabbing ice cream by the water, and sitting in the sand just sight-seeing.

In high school, I never understood how nice it is to have the beach at my fingertips — and I am sure many other New Englanders feel the same.

Yes, I have always loved how the beach is so close, but I never understood exactly how lucky I am to have that. I went off to college this year in upstate New York, completely unaware that the nearest beach stands roughly 3-4 hours away.

I must say, I was very disappointed, but I did not realize how affected I was by this until a few months had passed.

I reached a major realization that walks by the beach, drives along the water, picnics on the beach, the pier, and the smell of the beach were all major parts of my life that I loved as a child. After months began to pass I learned how little of this I could achieve in New York, and how much I couldn’t wait for another day like today where I could spend the day doing just this.

I entered college unknowing of how many of my new friends did not live near the water—especially those from Syracuse and the greater New York area. While discussing with them the beach trips I would take, golf cart rides around Peaks Island, and Ferris wheel rides beside the beach, I was shocked with how many of them seemed very appalled.

I truly had no idea how many people do not live so close to the beach, and how fortunate I was to be from Maine and have the beach at my fingertips.

So, with this realization, I sat by the beach today and made the pact to visit the beach as much as I possibly can. Last summer was so extremely busy that I was not able to make it to the beach as much as I should, but I am making sure to make this one of my priorities this year.

The positive energy from the beach is something that I should never take for granted, and with this realization, I hope to never do so again.