There I was sitting beneath a canopy, enjoying a cool strawberry daiquiri, thinking how I probably just made the best decision of my life. I decided to deny my parents request that I join them and the rest of my framily for a day of fun at hte overly crowded Disney World. I needed a day to myself, it had been a rough week, or for that matter, a rough year. Lately it had just seemed that I wasn't where I wanted to be in my life. Single, alone, struggling to further my career as best I could, I was beginning to feel I had nothing good going for me. This was my first vacation since I could remember and did I ever need it.
             Shining more brightly than I've ever seen, the sun was directly above me, scorching the bystanders that were not as lucky as I was to have shield from the heat, and inevitable sunburn. Crashing down about every ten seconds the waves would start tall and then cap off, eventually fading away as they made their way up onto the sand to the awaiting feet that yearn for a cool reief.
             Putting my drink down in the sand, I could not hold myself back from wondering again how sand could get so white. More like flour, I picked up a handful of the warm snow and let it run through my fingers; it was like watching an hourglass emptying itself.
             "Beautiful isn't it," said a voice that startled me from my own little day dream. The warm yet undeniabley weary voice spoke again, "you know there are only about five beaches like this in the world," said the stranger. Not knowing it then, this was only a little of the information that I would end up gaining from this man.
             His eyes were kind, but you could tell that they had seen many things for this who introduced himself simply as Dan. Garbed in a Hawaiian tee-shirt that was open down the front, exposing his slightly overweight gut, Dan probably bought the shirt in a nearby tourist shop. He had a pair of torn khaki shorts supported...