Recreating childhood memories (Netherlands)

Countless summers had been spent on the beaches of the North Sea. As kids we were roaming free all day without a care in the world. With mom's memory fading away slowly but permanently my siblings and I went on vacation with her one last time in order to reactivate some memories from the past. Indeed she was able to remember some of the carefree days of summer on the German, Danish or Dutch coast. 

With the Dutch coast being the nearest I rented a house on one of the several peninsulas close to Rotterdam. Our home for a week stood in the dunes, a foot's distance from the beach where we could enjoy walking in the sand, watching the surf and the kite surfers, talking, reading books, enjoying sea food or just relaxing in the sun.

Mom's mental state kept changing like the tide but she certainly appreciated being with her children and being taken care of. A bittersweet memory for us because for her it is already beginning to fade away again like footprints in the sand washed away by the sea.