Day one 2020!

 

What a long day! Months ago, we booked our flights, we decided to pay a little extra, so we did not have to get up in the middle of the night to drive to the airport, yes, we booked a flight that leaves around 10:00 am which would get us to CHS around 11:30, plenty of time to pick up the rental car, stop at total wine, drive thru BiLo then to HT, and ultimately arriving in paradise! As we all know getting to paradise at times can turn into an adventure in itself. We as one might expect Friday evening about 7:00 pm, I get a text from the airlines saying that our flight has been canceled, you we were rebooked on a flight that leaves at 7:10 am. Oh well let the fun begin. This is still doable, just means be at the airport at 6:10, then that means leave the house at 4:10, which means getting up at 3:10. Still not the best but doable, just need to put the bottle of Rex away, let 62 and 621 know that they need to be at our house at 4:00am, and pack my bags. Sounds very simple, but as you might guess nothing is simple. Fast forward, arrived at the gate at 6:15, plane scheduled to leave on time, all is good! Need some coffee, on the way to the gate 6 noticed that nothing was open, in the back of my mind 6 was thinking that it was too early and everything would probably open at 6:00, wrong! All of the vendors in the concourse would not open until 9:00 am because of covid. No food no coffee, what the heck are we going to do. Well only 40 minutes and we can get something on the plane. Well one thing that is nice about traveling with 621 is that we were able to board the plane with the second group! Brings me back to the days when 6 traveled 1^st class and was in the first group! We all got on the plane, they closed the doors pushed us back from the gate and we sat there, I was thinking that they wanted to give us a bonus and let us see the sun raise over the Potomac! Well the sun did raise, but we just continued to sit there. Yeh, we are moving! The bad thing that I left out is this new flight is not a direct flight to CHS, we get to go from DCA to CLT then to CHS. We sat in DCA a longer time than it took to fly to CLT! Leg one over, now it’s time to find some coffee and something to eat. (6 has to take his back pills and he can’t take them on an empty stomach). Off the plane, found some coffee and food! Now we just have to wait for several hours to get our flight to CHS, it is scheduled to arrive at 6:00. No worries, car will still be there, total wine doesn’t close until 8:00, we can go to Bi Lo and HT on Sunday. We ate our breakfast, then we ate lunch, and even got some dinner. We boarded the plane, took off for CHS and landed at 6:30. The rental car line was short, total wine, was fine, then the rain came! What a drive to paradise…. Roads were flooded, the sun was going down, but we finally made it! Upon reflection we could have driven to paradise for ½ the time. 

We finally did make it to paradise, but the sun was down, and sadly one day lost of our precious beach time.

 

Words of wisdom: Travel can be difficult, but safety cannot be taken for granted, in the end the final destination is the most important. 

From a distance

Since this is still a very strange year, all we can do is watch the beach cam. Did you ever notice that every week one sees the exact same thing? 6 knows that there are different people, thus different tents, umbrellas, towels and bikes. From a distance it is all the same, or as 6 likes to call it the majesty of paradise. Is that not true of everything? If one chooses to take a stand from the background, one never sees the truth, and thus everything is the same as our own perception. Think of this, imagine if one had the ability to focus that same camera on a specific part of that same beach, and be able to include sound, one would get a completely different truth. Week after week the people would change, the conversation would change, the individual perspectives would change, but the sounds of the wind, the breaking of the waves, would remain the same just as you were looking at it from a distance.

 

Since 6 can’t be there to spin tales first had, the only option he has now is to observe and report. The other day about 1:00 in the afternoon a nice family decided that it was time to hit the beach! Up pulls 5 bikes three with carts in tow. It was just about this time the camera position changes, one could hardly not notice there were three or 4 people walking down the beach each with a wagon in tow. Soon they were out of the camera view, as the camera once again changed direction. As we all know the picture will come together just as the group of 4 along with the 5 bikes met in front of the swim club. It was very difficult to determine how many people were in this group but there was a lot! They began to build their tent city, not one, nor two but three of them! They proceeded to place several coolers under the tents put their chairs in front to the tents, and all headed for the serf! Meanwhile back at the ranch there were several people who decided that they were done for the day, not sure if it was because they had to go to the bathroom or they could no longer see the ocean. In either case 4-5 families called it a day, after several swings of the camera, the group of tent dwellers had enough of the serf, and returned to the tent city.  Each of them dried off with their towels, and hung them neatly on the back of the tents and over the top of their bikes.  Moral of the story: Why did each of them pass several empty places on the beach, to build the tent city, directly in front of an occupied zone? Why would someone lug all of that crap to the beach only to cover their coolers and their bikes, I assume the bikes were rented, and the coolers don’t really care if they get sunburn, why cover your crap and not yourself, 6 can only assume that a cold beer is more important than your skin. Oh 6 forgot the most important thing, I wonder if what caused the people in the occupy one to leave, was that several of the people from the tent city went behind the tent city and sprayed down with sun screen! I wonder if the people from the occupy zone thought that if they could smell the aerosol from the sun screen, the tent city could pass covid-19? 

 

Words of wisdom: As time passes, peoples perspective change, but the majesty of the path remains the same.

The beach should be empty

This has been a very strange year, we have all had to make adjustments in many day to day activities. Are these changes good, are they lasting, or will we fall back. What is change, change all boils down to a choice. We can either give up, or give in, or stand strong behind our path. Let your yes mean yes and your no mean no. There is black and white, do we live in the gray? No position ever comes with without consequence, the consequences are dependent if you are a simple product of the day. Never fear the day, for before you know it the wind will blow those consequences into the past, focus on the path that will serve you for eternity. Leave the day, cast it away, don’t be a product of the day, for that day is not eternity. Be true, trust your heart, for that is the choice you always have, to forge an unbeatable path.

Given that what is your choice? While 6 looks at the beach cam for the millionth time, one thing that he notices is that there are many who make the choice to enjoy the beach. It may be emotion talking but by the number of people one would think that Kiawah will have one of it most busy years ever. 

Only time will tell, if this is the biggest nothing bugger that has ever been enacted on man, and we are we visualizing the effects of our independence. Every day, we see layers of choice. Do we ignore the fingers of the virus, and stand up for our rights, be it a "march", or a comfortable beach chair. Both choices have consequences, and some will argue the moral value of each choice and it’s value to society, out weights those consequences. Then again one could argue that each of those choices be it the "march" or the "chair", miss the mark of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness, for either choice is the same, and could lead to the exact same consequence. Stand strong behind your path, don’t sit, don’t march, say yes or no, don’t be a product of the day.

Words of wisdom: Don’t be afraid only believe

No PVV this year

We are now well over a year until we reach pre-vacation vacation. Let’s us all hope that next year’s pre-vacation vacation, is actually a reality.  BTW if 6 hears the term “new normal” one more time Rex time is going to start at noon. Who coined that phrase, if you ask 6 (which you obviously have), the idiot who coined that phrase, has come from modern time. They hold little grasp of history, holding a world view centered on personal needs and wants.  6 says follow the words of a famous poet, “darkness only stays at night time, in the morning it all fades away, Daylight is good at arriving at the right time, it is not always going to be this gray”.

Here is a good one, today is the 50^th anniversary of the Beatles release of “Let it Be”. 6 could be like all those other fools in the world who they say “I remember where they were when” but 6 would be telling a little white lie. Wait a second on deeper reflection, 6 does remember! 6 was at the church, hanging with the church gang! Sitting on a purple Kawasaki 900, pass the time discussing last night’s episode on Green acres. Oh those were the days my friends! 

As this is PVV eve one cannot help wonder what will be missed by not, sitting on the beach with all of those wonderful friends. One could not help remembering last year, on Saturday afternoon PVV started out with a trip to HT (Harris Teeter).  Did 6 ever explain what it is like going to HT on Memorial Day weekend in paradise? It is quite the experience! On a normal vacation weekend, HT is packed, with the average age of the patrons being approximately 40. On Memorial Day weekend one could conservatively add 30 years making it 70 years old.  Back to the experience:  Nice cars, and between each car is a shopping cart, the prospect of returning your cart to the spot the store provides when you are done is not even a consideration. After about 20 minutes one of those old people finally decides to leave and you can get a parking space. As 6 is a very nice and considerate person, he takes one of the shopping carts left in the middle of a parking space and makes his way to the store…oh not so fast you can’t get in to the store with the cart because the front of the store is filled with cars of those old people who think they own the place. They can’t be bothered to park in the lot, they just park in front of the door! By this time 6 is about ready to explode, and he has not even made it into the store!  It’s time to take a big breath, and proceed. Once in the store it is no better, as far as the eye can see it is nothing but people! You gotta eat! The most efficient way to shop is to divide and conquer, 6 draws the short straw and has to get lunch meat!  Line is short but the old man in front of 6, had to try for or 5 different kinds of meat and cheese, actually 6 thinks he was eating his lunch right there in the store. He proceeded to get 5 different types of lunch meat, ¼ pound at a time, then he had to get 5 different types of cheese once again in ¼ increments! Come old buy, if 6 ever even thinks of doing something so self-serving, please lock him up! The moral of the story is: if one goes grocery shopping on Kiawah Island on a Saturday afternoon, one must have the patience of a saint!

Words of wisdom: No matter what life throws at you, all will be well in the end!

Social Distance on the beach

It has been a long time since 6 has done a blog. No real reason other than time. So much has happened over the past winter, but now it is time to settle in and think about all the adventures we have shared relaxing in paradise. 

Last year on the pre-vacation vacation 6 arrived with his fedora and light blue seersucker pants, and the traditional white button-down shirt, ready to face the best dresses want-to-be’s the ocean room has to offer! I stepped off of the plane being meet by “oh so many long faces”, of people standing in long lines just waiting for their turn to board the airplane 6 just left, taking them back to the real world. At this point 6 can only hope that giving those “poor saps” a glimpse of what is the aura of 6 would bring a sense of hope for those leaving paradise. As 6 made his way thru the throngs of long face people 6 fought his way to the exit where he was greeted by 4,7&8, one of which popped the car’s trunk, what a greeting. The adventure begins by trying to figure our what exit we need to get off in order to get to the Rex store, opinions vary, but soon, the GPS tells us where to get off. One would think that after so many years four adults would remember, 6 can only conclude that logic goes out the window in paradise. Speaking of logic, 6 has often contemplated why there is such a mad rush to reach paradise, but when we arrive, we do nothing but wait… condo not ready, rain, long lines at HT, beach closed, luggage did not make the flight, Joe Biden motor cade closing the roads, accident on the main line, flooding, robbery at 4’s favorite gas station, all the rental cars are sold out, someone takes your rental car, the list just keeps going on! We end up doing whatever it takes, after all what is better than sitting in the burning sand, piercing sun, sand infused driving winds, drinking a bottle of Rex, with a side of cheese and crackers? Before you know it, you are tired, cranky, sunburned, dehydrated, and emptying a week’s worth of food into a large green container. The dreaded alarm, awakens us from our slumber, not a word is said, everyone knows what happens next, pack the car and head to the airport to become one of the long faces, standing in line waiting for the aluminum tube to take you back from where you came.

As we all know it is spring, and in our neighborhood social media platform, a person who has lived here for only a year asked, does anyone have problems with snakes? They continued, last night we found a copper head in in our daughters’ bedroom. Needless to say many other chimed in with snake stories, I should have told them about the 6 foot black snake 8 saw going under our deck last 4^th of July. This place is still the copper head capital of the world..

Words of wisdom: It really doesn’t matter why, what matters, is who.