I'm feeling particularly sentimental as I'm writing this post. I just spent almost two weeks with family and friends at the beach. The last half of the vacation was spent at Dauphin Island, where I spent the majority of my childhood and where the vast majority of my most precious childhood memories were made. For my mom's 60th birthday, my sisters and I gave her a week at the beach with all of her children and grandchildren. I was skeptical, I admit, about being in the same beach house with all of my siblings, their husbands, and their children. And I'm sure that they were equally as skeptical about spending a week with me and my clan! However...it was an incredible week and many more good times and memories were made!
Perhaps the best part of the trip was that my 95 year old grandad was able to come. He can't walk far, but Holley and Scott brought their golf cart, so he was able to make it to the beach, sit in the shade, and watch his grandchildren splash in the water. And the rest of the time he spent sitting on the front porch with binoculars in hand, staring out into the ocean, just like I've seen him do a million times before. And he talked our ears off. My dad commented to him that he had an incredible memory. He replied, "I've got a good memory once I get going" Truer words were never spoken. One story would lead to another and not a single detail was forgotten! He loves to talk about the past. I think I wrote this before, but when you're 95 years old, there's probably not a lot to say about the future, so you focus on memories of the past.
The first day that I arrived at Dauphin Island, I wondered if I would even be able to enjoy myself because I was so overwhelmed with emotion and memories of the past. The island has changed and driving by the empty lot on St. Dennis Court everyday was a not-so-gentle reminder that life is short, things come and go, so you better enjoy them while you can. Being with my PawPaw and Baby Lucy in the same beach house, at the very same time, was also a reminder of life's short cycle. As I walked the beach and listened to M explain in no-nonsense terms that a beach, by it's very nature, is an ever-changing body of sand and I shouldn't be so attached to the physical aspects of life, I felt my self bow up a bit. I wasn't attached to the house itself, but to everything it represented. I do miss the actual physical house , though - the sandy floor and sheets, the hum of the box fans, the Formica table, the metal table leg that my PawPaw would put in the bottom of the sliding glass door. But mainly, I miss the activity in that house, the memories made in that house, and the strong sense of family that it represented to so many people. I long for my children to experience the same thing. It was life wrapped in love, surrounded by beauty.
The first day that I arrived at Dauphin Island, I wondered if I would even be able to enjoy myself because I was so overwhelmed with emotion and memories of the past. The island has changed and driving by the empty lot on St. Dennis Court everyday was a not-so-gentle reminder that life is short, things come and go, so you better enjoy them while you can. Being with my PawPaw and Baby Lucy in the same beach house, at the very same time, was also a reminder of life's short cycle. As I walked the beach and listened to M explain in no-nonsense terms that a beach, by it's very nature, is an ever-changing body of sand and I shouldn't be so attached to the physical aspects of life, I felt my self bow up a bit. I wasn't attached to the house itself, but to everything it represented. I do miss the actual physical house , though - the sandy floor and sheets, the hum of the box fans, the Formica table, the metal table leg that my PawPaw would put in the bottom of the sliding glass door. But mainly, I miss the activity in that house, the memories made in that house, and the strong sense of family that it represented to so many people. I long for my children to experience the same thing. It was life wrapped in love, surrounded by beauty.
I have always loved to walk along the beach and collect seashells. I get an adrenaline rush when I find a sand dollar. You might assume I found a hundred dollar bill rather than a sanddollar. I get that same feeling when I see dolphins in the water. Do you? Or is it just me??
One night, AAA asked me to wake her up early the next morning so we could take a long walk and collect sea shells before anyone else on the island. When I woke her up, she said, in her sweet, sleepy voice, "Do you mind going by yourself? I'm so sorry." I was crushed. Not because I had to go by myself, but because she didn't want to go.
The memories made on that island are part of me and help shaped me into the person I am. I think I love the little details in life because life at the beach is so full of them. Seashells, each with their own unique color, shape, feel. The feel of soft sand between your toes. The rush of the cold gulf water over your head. The sounds of the waves slapping against the shore. The sound of the sea gulls overhead. The sight of the dolphins in the distance. The sunrise and sunset on the horizon. The orange sun setting against the pink sky. There are so many details that I can't type them fast enough. I am flooded with emotion when I am at the beach. The sheer vastness of the ocean itself overwhelms me and I wonder, "How can someone experience the beach and NOT believe in God?!?".
Man...no wonder I'm sentimental about it all...it was perfect.
(Now that the sentimentality is over, stay tuned for some fun beach stories! Lots of laughs and good times!)
2 comments:
I know exacly how you feel.(: I spent every summer in Destin ALL summer!
It too has changed so much...it makes me so sad. We always ate at the same place when I was young with my grandparents and aunts and uncles because it was THE place to go. Now theres like a gazillion places!
I hold the memories tight and dear though...at least I will always have those.
My grandparents have passed but my fondest memories will always be of them there.(:
Sob...sob! I know exactly what you mean. I thought about Paw-Paw sitting there and thought about how much his life was shaped by the island too and how much he has to think (and talk) about! :) Not only did he build the house with his own two hands but then watched his own children grow up there and then there children and now ours...AMAZING!! I loved the trip and can't wait til next year!
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