Living in a beach house for just over a year has made a lasting impression on my life, and I will never forget my time there, just over five years ago. I have lived "on the mainland" for all but one year of the fifty-five years of my life, and have lived in some very interesting places, but of all those places, I have to say the favorite of all was the little house in Surfside Beach that we named "Some'r Surfin'." Child A and Child B visited us at our beach home, and both of them fell in love with the place just as we did. We had never in our wildest dreams thought that we would one day live just off the beach on a semi-tropical island, but there we were. I spent a lot of time on the road, unfortunately, so I did not get as much time on the beach as did my lovely bride, but I am so grateful for the time I had.
My spouse also enjoyed those fleetingly few months, although she rode out the edge of Hurricane Alex in 2009, while I was safely tucked away in a Baton Rouge hotel at the time, pursuant to my work as a private investigator. By the time I returned to Texas the storm was gone and the island was its usual peaceful spot of paradise. Another time, I was in Colorado on a case when a hurricane descended on the Houston area, thus I never saw the worst the island had offer. My lovely bride was once trapped on the island during a tropical storm; nonetheless, she and I loved that place. We adopted the island, learned to love the quirky people there, and eventually became Surfside Beach "natives." You may be an honorary Surfside Beach native, too, if you know what is "Kitty's Purple Cow." When we finally left Surfside, we learned that you can leave the beach behind you, but you can't get the island out of your soul.
I guess similar sentiments must have lingered with Child B. Not too very long ago Child B surprised my lovely bride with a small gift, but it really plucked at our hearts. The gift was just a small sign to put up on the wall, but the words...the words really summed up our love of the beach house, Surfside Beach, and the laid-back yet magical life on a Texas tropical island. The sign reads simply:
"May you Always have a SHELL in your pocket SAND in your shoes."
Wow, does that short phrase sum it all up! For months after leaving Surfside Beach I indeed carried a seashell in my pocket. Walking along the beach with the surf washing over ones toes means it is impossible to get home without some sand in your shoes. We both wore sandals (I will not NEVER acknowledge the fact, outside this blog, that I wore sandals!) on our many walks along the seashore from the pedestrian beach to the jetty on the eastern tip of the island. At the end of each walk, we would take off our sandals..er, shoes...and wash the beach sand off our feet and out from between our toes. But, just like the sign from Child B implied, we were never really able to get every grain of sand out of those shoes, or off our feet, for that matter. It seemed that we always found sand between our toes even hours after we left the beach and had taken our showers. And of course, I always kept a seashell in my pocket.
The sign that Child B gave us still sits in our house, waiting for a permanent spot. I told my lovely bride this was a "no brainer!" We should OBVIOUSLY tack up the sign right on our wall without any further ado. How hard is THAT?! "No," my lovely bride tells me MOST urgently!
"Of COURSE the sign will go up MY office."
Well, of course I lost this fight...and, really, it was not much of a fight. Child B got the sign mostly for my lovely bride. To be honest, I am glad the sign will go to my lovely bride's office, because so many people are in and out of her office all day. Those people will be blessed by the deeper meaning in those simple words:
May you Always have a SHELL
your pocket & SAND in your shoes
And, May God Bless America
My spouse also enjoyed those fleetingly few months, although she rode out the edge of Hurricane Alex in 2009, while I was safely tucked away in a Baton Rouge hotel at the time, pursuant to my work as a private investigator. By the time I returned to Texas the storm was gone and the island was its usual peaceful spot of paradise. Another time, I was in Colorado on a case when a hurricane descended on the Houston area, thus I never saw the worst the island had offer. My lovely bride was once trapped on the island during a tropical storm; nonetheless, she and I loved that place. We adopted the island, learned to love the quirky people there, and eventually became Surfside Beach "natives." You may be an honorary Surfside Beach native, too, if you know what is "Kitty's Purple Cow." When we finally left Surfside, we learned that you can leave the beach behind you, but you can't get the island out of your soul.
I guess similar sentiments must have lingered with Child B. Not too very long ago Child B surprised my lovely bride with a small gift, but it really plucked at our hearts. The gift was just a small sign to put up on the wall, but the words...the words really summed up our love of the beach house, Surfside Beach, and the laid-back yet magical life on a Texas tropical island. The sign reads simply:
"May you Always have a SHELL in your pocket SAND in your shoes."
Wow, does that short phrase sum it all up! For months after leaving Surfside Beach I indeed carried a seashell in my pocket. Walking along the beach with the surf washing over ones toes means it is impossible to get home without some sand in your shoes. We both wore sandals (I will not NEVER acknowledge the fact, outside this blog, that I wore sandals!) on our many walks along the seashore from the pedestrian beach to the jetty on the eastern tip of the island. At the end of each walk, we would take off our sandals..er, shoes...and wash the beach sand off our feet and out from between our toes. But, just like the sign from Child B implied, we were never really able to get every grain of sand out of those shoes, or off our feet, for that matter. It seemed that we always found sand between our toes even hours after we left the beach and had taken our showers. And of course, I always kept a seashell in my pocket.
The sign that Child B gave us still sits in our house, waiting for a permanent spot. I told my lovely bride this was a "no brainer!" We should OBVIOUSLY tack up the sign right on our wall without any further ado. How hard is THAT?! "No," my lovely bride tells me MOST urgently!
"Of COURSE the sign will go up MY office."
Well, of course I lost this fight...and, really, it was not much of a fight. Child B got the sign mostly for my lovely bride. To be honest, I am glad the sign will go to my lovely bride's office, because so many people are in and out of her office all day. Those people will be blessed by the deeper meaning in those simple words:
May you Always have a SHELL
your pocket & SAND in your shoes
And, May God Bless America
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