What I want my people to remember.

I had such a good time this year at Tybee.  I actually read a book.  The book was by Anne Rivers Siddons and her books are always set by water and involve people who have known each other their entire lives.  The plot usually involves the same people doing the same summer retreat over the course of a lifetime.  As I reflected about Tybee it started to read like a book.  Every year we go for the better part of July.  My sister brings her babies from NYC.  The menfolk come on the weekends and usually one full week.  Hope and her family come some too. 
So this is how I want my kids to read the book of their summers.  Or, what I want my people to remember.
1.  Riding waves.  I have always loved how free I feel when I am riding waves and I still do.  It's so fun to ride a good one in right beside Emory and give the hang ten sign when we make it all the way to the shore.
2.  Making drip castles.  Conventional castles are too difficult for Tybee sand but we can really rock the drip castles.  Also very therapeutic.
3.  Outside showers.  My mom has an outside shower and you are required to use it after the beach.  I love it.  Emory and Hattie go together.  Packy and I go together and sometimes we bring Josie.  I don't know why but it is fun to shower outside.  This year I took a nighttime shower.  It was a little spooky but there was a thunderstorm in the distance and the lightening was really cool to watch.
4.  Hide and seek.  I take this game very seriously.  My hiding spot is not going to be a closet that you open the door and see me.  This year I hid in the utility closet that backed up to the stairs and I went all the way back to the stairs.  It was dark and I know there were some roaches waiting for me but I waited it out.  Jay loves my good hiding.
5.  Walking to the ice cream shop.  Every trip to Tybee includes a couple of walks to Tybee Sweets.  The walk up there is usually at dusk and everyone is sticky on the walk back.  The gelato is delicious. 
6.  Bike riding.  We are experts at packing it on a bike and getting to the beach.  I hope the kids remember riding all over the island.  I love that Tybee is small enough that you can ride anywhere.  It makes going to the grocery store an adventure if you are biking.

7. Special Chu's trips.  Chu's is a store that has a little bit of everything.  Every child gets a special trip to Chu's with either a dad, uncle, grandmother, or grandad during their trip.  They usually buy a plastic toy that doesn't make it very long but the trip to Chu's makes it special.
8.  Fishing on the back river.  Pole, throwing net...it doesn't matter.  This is mainly a Jay and Packy activity with a dad or papa.  Sometimes you catch a fish, or a crab, or a sting ray.  It doesn't matter.  Catching something is catching something.  Same excitement.
9.  Sharks teeth.  The kids have not been successful at this adventure yet.  But they have Cable blood in them and I am confident they will find them  They will for sure remember the adults looking for them and the thrill we get when we find them.
10.  Parents laughing and loving each other.  We have such a good time together laughing, having game night, cooking good food, and acting like kids a lot of the time.  This year Jason and I tried to have some "us" time as well.  One night we went on a bike ride after dark to the beach and swam in the ocean.  I did not go out very far because it was scary. Then we sat in the lifeguard stand and talked while we watched people walking on the edge of the ocean.  Just us.  We told the kids what we did the next morning.  I want my kids to know that we love each other and I think they do.

So that is my Anne Rivers Siddons novel.  All of us at the beach every year.  The same friends and family.  Sometimes new people, but the core group is always there. Doing the same things.  Making new memories each time.  Life is good at Tybee.