Dangermond.org

Version #1

We all needed a break, so we decided to book some time on the beach. And then an oil spill happened and we didn’t know whether all of the creatures in the Gulf would be dead in a matter of weeks and on a smaller scale if our beach vacation would be ruined. Then I got sick right before we were leaving and thought even if the spill didn’t reach the shores, I’d be wheezing. The morning of departure Loca dove off the concrete barrier into the bayou and I, trying to save her, laid in a pile of ants and got bit a zillion times. Then we raced to get to the beach and right when we thought we could exhale, Tin decided to become a voluntary terrorist – boycotting food and bed alike. Then on day two T twisted her knee and tore her ligament and was thereby laid up for the rest of the trip. I realized at some point that I had gained back all the weight I had lost before Jazz Fest and now on vacation was in no mood to begin addressing it. Four days later when it was time to return home, I realized I had a work call I couldn’t miss so again had to pack and work at the same time. We drove all the way home running late for me to get back to work thereby negating what little of relaxing came from the weekend.

Version 2

We decided we all needed a break and so we and friends agreed to a sorely needed weekend on the beach. A huge catastrophe happened in the Gulf and we’re still not sure what the repercussions are but all reports from the beaches of Alabama were that the shore was unscathed. The day we were leaving for the trip Loca was so excited, almost as if she knew we were headed to the beach, that she jumped straight into the bayou and started swimming. We missed the first ferry but made the second one and suddenly we all started getting excited about arriving at the beach.

We arrived at the house and Tin was too excited to eat anything and too excited to go down for a nap, but sun and sand were soon plentiful and helped get him in the mood. Heidi turned out to be a beach bunny! Who knew.

Our friends arrived on the second day with Loca’s good friend Sangi and we all had fun cooking delicious meals and hanging out together.

On the second day, T twisted her knee and was laid up but at least we were not in a hurry to get anywhere. She wasn’t able to take long walks on the beach with me and Tin and the dogs, which was a bummer, but she did get some time in on the beach before the accident. Seeing how life is full of so many uncertainties – a twisted ligament is something you can get over and so we didn’t fret it too much.

I realized my friend who said the ocean is her church is right on. This part of the Gulf is strangely uninhabited and yet majestically beautiful. We don’t know if people don’t come because you can see oil rigs out in the distance or whether the ferry deters them – hard to say – but we’re grateful it is so underpopulated and that the dogs can romp on the beach with the humans. As for a first beach trip with Tin, it was a big success as he loved the water – both the Gulf and the pool – and on the very last day he even was attempting to go into the crashing surf himself – fearlessly after having been dunked by a big wave when we were out in it.

We got a lot of time to spend just in the sand, barefoot, you can see here how he is my biological son – we have exactly the same feet!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 11th, 2010 at 6:27 pm and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.