A childhood belief about places

Leading up to my first visit to a seashore, I envisioned that the beach would be a narrow strip of sand, only about three feet wide. To the landward side of that narrow strip, I thought, soil and vegetation would turn abruptly to pretty much the same as they were at home, a few hundred miles inland. On the seaward edge of the beach, I supposed, there was an abrupt vertical drop into deep sea waters.