Sunday morning we are leaving for Avon, NC. The first time we went to Avon Andrew was 10 months old and we've returned every year since.
I love it there. Christopher could take it or leave it. But I love it. There have been some years that I've gone more than once. In fact, this year I will be there more than once. And I cannot wait. I have a special comfort there.
"I really don’t know why it is that all of us are so committed to the sea except I think it is because in addition to the fact that the sea changes and the light changes and ships change, it is because we all come from the sea. And it is an interesting biological fact that all of us have in our veins, the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch it we are going back from whence we came.”
Once or twice we went earlier in the year - when Andrew started kindergarten we were there in May and it rained the entire time. Chris's parent's went with us then. It's easy to suggest they brought the rain ... just like Christopher's brother takes the rain to Myrtle Beach, but we'll never know. And we'll never return in May. And last year we were there in June because Davis was starting kindergarten. There were so many people there, we couldn't even take our clothes off on the beach to change before leaving! It was a travesty. Alas, this year we will be back to our normal schedule - September when no one is there.
Andrew and Davis went to Ocean City with me last year. And while we were getting ready in the hotel room - putting on our bathing suits and getting lathered in sunblock - Andrew looked at me and in complete honesty asked, "where do we drive onto the beach, Mommy?" My children had been to the beach only two other times when they didn't drive on - once was Assateague - when we had attempted to drive on but the OSV area was sold out. Andrew has been to Rehoboth before, but he was young and probably didn't remember it. But going to Cape Hatteras is the way they know the beach. And I love that. I love that they don't sit on the beach blanket-to-blanket. I love that they can throw a football and dive into the water like superstars and the lifeguard doesn't come over and tell them they can't do that. And I love that we can put a cooler full of food, beer, and juice boxes into the back of my car, drive 3 miles down the road, let the air out of the tires, put the car into 4-wheel drive, and go onto the sand. We pick a spot, the boys hop out and run to the water like moths to a flame. We set up the tent, pull the chairs out of the back, and we sit. And we drink. And we sit some more. And we drink. We run around. We play catch. We sit. And we sit. And we drink. And I relax.
John F. Kennedy was a great orator. He summed up my feelings about the sea perfectly when he said:
"I really don’t know why it is that all of us are so committed to the sea except I think it is because in addition to the fact that the sea changes and the light changes and ships change, it is because we all come from the sea. And it is an interesting biological fact that all of us have in our veins, the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch it we are going back from whence we came.”