Yellow Beach Umbrellas

Emily Dickinson reportedly said that home was her definition of heaven. I love my home, and at times it can feel downright heavenly. Still, going out where life is teeming all around you brings you a different and broader perspective than peeping out through the blinds. This past weekend was filled to the max with people, sights, and sounds that we wouldn’t have experienced had we just hung around home sweet home.

Here are a few of our (my) sights and impressions:

• A beautiful wedding. We got to see a young couple vow love and devotion to each other and later watch  Hannah dancing with her Aunt Jenny at the reception. Sweet. We also chatted with old friends and sampled some of the yummiest shrimp and grits I’ve ever tasted.
• Driving to the beach together and going the back way through Wisacky, Lynchburg, and Hanna. At one time, that was the only way to travel to the coast, and so our cruise down the back roads brought back a lot of memories. Quick one: When Carrie was an infant, we were on our way home for Christmas and got stopped in Olanta by a Christmas parade. I LOVED that. The stoplight in beautiful downtown Olanta conjured up that decades-old memory Saturday morning.
• Tons of beach scenes including a mother using molds to make a starfish, an octopus, and other sea creatures from sand. Then there was a family of five slowly making their way down the beach whose father finally turned to the little girl who was holding up the gang and said, “Come on, little Sea Snail. You’re taking too long.”  Another memory was seeing a woman attempt to wash her hair in a sink in one of the restrooms at the state park. She said she thought there’d be showers, but since there weren’t, she was making the best of it. “It’s all good,” she said.  Loved that. Some people would have been grumbling and making life miserable for everyone else.
• Cicadas chirping so loudly that I couldn’t hear the ocean for a brief stretch. Can you imagine what a loud symphony that was? It was deafening, yet cool. I felt the wind so fiercely that I literally had to lean forward as I trudged along. I felt the sun so strongly that even with my eyes closed, my retinas saw red (if that makes sense). I saw a long line of yellow umbrellas, millions of sea shells, and a woman flying a kite. I also read much of a novel and will always associate Juliet and the Guernsey folks with this weekend’s sights and sounds.

We also went to a movie (Robin Hood), shopped a bit, dined out a couple of times, and chilled. Some of the shopping took place at a couple of flea markets that we visited with Ann and Allen, and I’m loving the little Dora and Diego game that I bought for my grandchildren to play when they visit the coast. Ann and I bought books.

The woman in the restroom was right. “It’s all good.” It’s so much easier to see all the things you don’t have (like no showers), but life is more enjoyable for all concerned when you take note of what you do have…but sometimes you need to get out of the house to do that.

Author: jayne bowers

*married with children, stepchildren, grandchildren, in-laws, ex-laws, and a host of other family members and fabulous friends *semi-retired psychology instructor at two community colleges *writer View all posts by jayne bowers