Beachy Time Diary

Friday night, October 4

We needed it.

After the events of the last couple of weeks, we are having  brief weekend away.  We have  a room facing the ocean, and even though it is dark, we can hear the sound of the waves hitting the beach.  There is a breeze and it is very comfortable sitting on the patio balcony.

Benjamin brought a friend, and they are busy playing video and card games in their room.  Alison got a special keyboard so I could use the iPad to write.  It works out pretty good, except for my blindingly slow typing speed, and my fat fingered errors.  But I am learning and getting better.

The Tigers will begin their playoff game soon. I may watch some of it.  I may not.

I might just listen to the ocean.

Saturday morning 6:39

Up early, so I can see the dawn.  We are facing a gorgeous sunrise.  It is just starting to break.  I can hear the waves. I see the beach.  There is not enough light yet to give it color, but I can tell it flat and relatively pristine.  The waves are gentle but steady, the water an inky black.  There are clouds in the horizon, and sneaking through them is a yellow orange glow.  The sky above is slowly turning from black to navy blue.

I have been trying to figure out how to get a picture from the iPad onto the blog, and so far it has not worked out.  But trust me, friends!  someday I shall succeed!\

Success!

This is probably the earliest picture I have that didn't turn out too dark to see.

The day gets lighter, and you can now see the beach/  All of these beach pictures were taken from our third floor balcony.  Great view!

Benjamin and his friend, Lance, giving a big thumbs up to Pablo's Mexican Restaurant in Downtown Fernandina.

Saturday 9:13

Ok, I've walked on the beach.  It's not quite as pristine as I thought.  Heavy layers of shells make for a very crunchy walk.  I wore sandals, which I only do about once a year or less.  But I as with Alison and it was enjoyable.  We saw a little dog wearing a life vest.  That was entertaining.


Saturday 3:00

We went into Fernandina to walk around and eat at Pablo's.  I had one of my favorite restaurant meals, Pollo Mayo, which contains chicken, Mexican sausage, queso, rice and black beans.  I had not had it in several years and it was s good as I had remembered it.

Saturday 7:11 PM

Spent a good while in the ocean with Benjamin and his friend in the ocean.  In some ways soothing, in other ways kind of physically battering.  But we survived without stings or bruises, and they had fun.


Sunday 6:56 AM

Another beautiful sunrise.  You would think with a mini-vacation, I would want to sleep in, but I
wake up and don't want to miss the sunrise.  I can sleep in next weekend.  Or maybe not.  Forgot next weekend might involve tax deadlines.

We played putt-putt last night.  Alison won.  She is a very steady player, whereas I tend to get a little worse over the course of a game.  The boys improved as they played.  I get tense that we're taking up too much time while people behind are waiting for us to get done.

We had ice cream from Cols Stone Creamery.  They take ice cream and some toppings and smack it around on this stone marble board.  It's good, although many of the flavor mixes are a little too noisy for me.  I had something called Cookies Doughn't You Know It, that had cookie dough, chocolate chips, fudge and caramel.  The cookie dough part got to be a bit much, and I couldn't finish it.  My favorite ice cream is fairly simple - vanilla ice cream with Chocolate sauce and peanuts, often referred to as a Tin Roof Sundae.

I fell asleep to the Tigers game, which Detroit lost in the last inning, a 1 to 0  loss.  Oh, well.  At least they play the next two in Detroit.

Monday morning 7:27

Watching the last beach sunrise of our trip.  So beautiful and peaceful.  The tremendous light from the sun hidden behind some clouds.  The rains from the remnants of Karen have not yet hit here.

Yesterday I got into the ocean again, and the waves battered my 58 year old body.  I stayed out because despite the battering, and the wondering what might be beneath the surface of the water, it was soothing in an odd way to be be enveloped by the lukewarm saltwater  The boys enjoyed themselves using boogie boards, and Benjamin gleefully talking to his friend about entering an alternate universe.  All three of my boys have a wild, delightful, creative imagination.  I don't know where they got it from.

We had pizza, one we got from a local place named Townies (now, how could you get a more local sounding name than that?).  It was supremely delicioso.

I have memories flooding back to me of previous beach trips, particularly the many from the times my parents would winter on St. Simons.  We would spend every weekend with them, and we would get along beautifully (well, 97.9% of the time - and there were never any major arguments).  After many years prior of semi-estrangement,  it was the best times of my life yo renew our familial closeness.  They loved me and Benjamin, of course, and they completely loved and adored Alison.  My Mom and Alison discovered Barbara Jean's (St. Simon's restaurant) together, on its first day of business.  Dad would play with Benjamin in the condo.  As Benjamin got out of babyhood, they could spend hours doing puzzles together.

They are not unpleasant memories.  They do not make me deeply sad.  I do miss my parents, but I am so glad I have those memories

I am not happy that they aged and passed away.  But I do have  a better sense of peace and reconciliation.

Let the memories come.

I am ready for them now.