A New Family Beach Trip
We are headed to the beach for the week of July 4th. This is one of my favorite holiday times. It brings back lots of fun memories with my family. We have been going to Amelia Island, Florida, since before Iwas born. I learned to swim there at a little motel called The Surf when I was two. I still remember my Daddy watching me jump off the diving board and swim to the side, not even realizing I was actually swimming! This was the place where, in my teen years, we actually stayed for the entire month of July. My Daddy fished off of the pier and my mom and I got as tanned as we could. My brother drove up and down the beach in his bright blue Trans Am looking for girls. I had my first summer boyfriend. This was the place where I also brought high school and college boyfriends. I met one of my dearest friends at the beach and she became my college roommate. This is the place where I worked one summer during college - living with my aunt who lived there. This was also the place where, after being engaged, we allowed The Husband into the fold. And at the beach I lost my engagement ring! I was devastated! We were all looking for it frantically trying to hide the fact from my father . . . until my sweet sister-in-law found it behind a nightstand.
This is where our family gathered each summer. We had ribs on July 4th and shot off fireworks on the beach. We watched our babies grow and swim and build sandcastles. The First Son caught his first fish with his Papa. This is where we took sailing trips on my aunt and uncle's boats. Later, this is where we piled up in my brother's boat for trips to Cumberland Island where we fished, sunned and searched for shells.
This is also the place I have not been since July 2012. This was when the unthinkable happened and we lost my ever fun loving, life of the party, brother and best friend to me, rock solid son to my mom, Uncle Mike to my boys, and husband and father to my sister in law and nephew. It was unfathomable that such a horrible, tragic thing could happen at a place that was filled with so many happy times and memories. I wrote about that trip here.
So, for a long while I have said that I could not go back there. I've tried to look for a "new family beach" for us. We have just missed going to a familiar place for vacation. Then I slowly began to realize that I couldn't recreate another place with so many happy memories and times. Maybe it wouldn't be sad to go back to an area that had been so important for so many years. Of course, we could never go back to stay at the same place where the horrific event happened, but we could comemorate all the fun and happy times - before there were so many losses, and begin to make new memories that would build on the old ones.
So, this is the plan and I'm on board and think it's a good one. I'm a little nervous, but we all know it's time to gather and honor Mike and say goodbye. Our new normal is our smaller family unit consisting of my family of five, and my, just like a sister, sister-in-law, and her son, my nephew. We are still knitted together by blood and by memories and experiences. We will be missing three important members, my Daddy, my brother and my mother. But we will gather on my brother's boat and take to the waters he loved so much in a place that meant so much to us for so many years, and we will let the waters have his ashes, part of him, as he would have wanted. The sun will rise and set and he will be so happy and joyful and I'm sure he will be giving everyone a toast at the 5 o'clock hour.
I am looking forward to some quiet times, enjoying the beach, (there's nothing like a walk or run on the beach to begin the day), reading and being with my family. I may visit this site or I may unplug, I'm just not sure. In any event, have a great week!
I hope you enjoy your July 4th!
This is where our family gathered each summer. We had ribs on July 4th and shot off fireworks on the beach. We watched our babies grow and swim and build sandcastles. The First Son caught his first fish with his Papa. This is where we took sailing trips on my aunt and uncle's boats. Later, this is where we piled up in my brother's boat for trips to Cumberland Island where we fished, sunned and searched for shells.
This is also the place I have not been since July 2012. This was when the unthinkable happened and we lost my ever fun loving, life of the party, brother and best friend to me, rock solid son to my mom, Uncle Mike to my boys, and husband and father to my sister in law and nephew. It was unfathomable that such a horrible, tragic thing could happen at a place that was filled with so many happy times and memories. I wrote about that trip here.
So, for a long while I have said that I could not go back there. I've tried to look for a "new family beach" for us. We have just missed going to a familiar place for vacation. Then I slowly began to realize that I couldn't recreate another place with so many happy memories and times. Maybe it wouldn't be sad to go back to an area that had been so important for so many years. Of course, we could never go back to stay at the same place where the horrific event happened, but we could comemorate all the fun and happy times - before there were so many losses, and begin to make new memories that would build on the old ones.
So, this is the plan and I'm on board and think it's a good one. I'm a little nervous, but we all know it's time to gather and honor Mike and say goodbye. Our new normal is our smaller family unit consisting of my family of five, and my, just like a sister, sister-in-law, and her son, my nephew. We are still knitted together by blood and by memories and experiences. We will be missing three important members, my Daddy, my brother and my mother. But we will gather on my brother's boat and take to the waters he loved so much in a place that meant so much to us for so many years, and we will let the waters have his ashes, part of him, as he would have wanted. The sun will rise and set and he will be so happy and joyful and I'm sure he will be giving everyone a toast at the 5 o'clock hour.
I am looking forward to some quiet times, enjoying the beach, (there's nothing like a walk or run on the beach to begin the day), reading and being with my family. I may visit this site or I may unplug, I'm just not sure. In any event, have a great week!
I hope you enjoy your July 4th!
