Pink and lavender streaks splintered the gray clouds. Waves tumbled against the shore. Children scuffed the sand with bare toes and sifted it through their fingers. Grown-ups stretched out in lounge chairs.

“Let us pray,” said the priest.

It wasn’t any morning at the shore. It was Easter sunrise Mass for a couple thousand in Cocoa Beach, Fla. It was the familiar, the traditional pulled outside into a unique setting.

And it made me think that there is a lot to be said for taking the usual things in life and putting a new spin on them every once in awhile. Seeing what we have in a fresh light can give us a new appreciation.

Vacations are supposed to help us do that. And that theme kept repeating itself during our family’s recent trip to Florida.

Gaining a new appreciation for the ordinary was the message of astronaut Story Musgrave. During his Astronaut Encounter presentation at the Kennedy Space Center, Musgrave answered questions from visitors from all over the world about his experiences.

While his adventures were out of this world, the things that surprised and delighted him were simple and, in the context of everyday life, ordinary.

He said his favorite activity was looking out the window, enjoying a different perspective on planet Earth as well as far-off stars and planets. He had fun playing with his food, especially trying to see how far from his mouth he could stretch a spoonful of soup without it splattering onto his face.

Musgrave found that something as ordinary as sleeping was a treat while on the Space Shuttle. Without gravity to pull your head to your chest or tug your arms and legs at odd angles, sleeping became an adventure. He says he tried to sleep a different way each night and study the effects on his body. He even spent one night head first in his sleeping bag.

The shaking, roaring and sheer force of a Shuttle launch scared him to death, Musgrave admitted. “But that was the only way to get where I wanted to be. So I dealt with it.”

Getting to where we wanted to be was sometimes a delicate subject in the context of Sept.11. Our younger son, Eric, expressed anxiety about flying before and during our vacation. Tighter airport security, closer baggage inspection and the presence of military men and women carrying serious weapons raised questions again and again. We reassured him and ourselves that the odds were with us and that we were relatively safe.

But US Airways Capt.Gerhard Schmid, may have given him the best reassurance. One of our flight attendants overheard Eric talking about showing his ID at the gate. His “ID,” mind you, was a miniature Florida license plate with his name on it. She asked to see it and after a few minutes came to our seats and told him the plane’s captain wanted to see him and his ID in the cockpit.

In something belonging to the era of the friendly skies and totally out of step with our post-Sept. 11 world, Captain Schmid gave both of our sons a tour of the cockpit. They sat in the captain’s seat and Eric got to wear Schmid’s hat. Since our camera was packed, Captain Schmid took digital photos of the boys.

He not only e-mailed us the images, but also copied them onto a disc, which he mailed to us with fresh prints.

Mass on the beach. Playing with your food in space. Fun and special treatment on an airplane.

Out of context. Out of the ordinary.

There should be more of that in our lives.