1. A bathing suit and shoes looks ridiculous, no matter your age or physical condition. Flip-flops are passable, but just barely.
2. That leafy stuff leafing all over everything near the highways (and everything else) in North Carolina is kudzu. Also, it is nice to have a friend who knows what I’m talking about when I ask her about “the leafy stuff that leafs on everything.” Thanks, Megan.
3. A lot of people are not happy, even on vacation. Usually we travel in the off season, but circumstances found us traveling during peak time this year. Although Hilton Head is pretty mellow any time of year, being there during prime family time provided an interesting window on others’ lives. I could go into detail here, but mostly, people, lots of them, spending huge amounts of money, and not happy.
4. Harry Potter is absolutely delightful. Happily, since J.K. Rowling doesn’t have a particular style (just an awesome ability to create a world), I can read this stuff and write at the same time without sponging.
5. Having a really magical vacation puts ridiculously high expectations on the next vacation. We had a really magical vacation last year, but this year there has been all the crap going on (Scott’s family, job; my fretting about our finances) leading up to it, and it cast a seven hundred mile shadow. It would have been nice if we could have not brought ourselves with us on vacation.
6. Spray-on sunscreen is a) awesome, b) sticky, if you (I) buy the cheap stuff and c) in its stickiness causes sand to embed in toenail polish.
7. Watching the sun or moon rise over the ocean can transform an entire day. One night while out for a walk on the beach, we both noticed this red blob out near the horizon, and thought it might be the light from a far away ship. Over the course of just a minute or two, the light became more well defined and bright, and we realized it was the moon, glowing bright orange and casting its light like outstretched arms from the horizon to the sand. There was a sensation of falling into and away from the moon at the same time as it rose above the horizon, a rare moment of actually feeling the earth turn on its axis. The morning we left, I went out on the beach and watched the sun rise from the same spot. It sounds trite, but even with a few people out on the beach with me, I understood for just a second, what it must have felt like for the first humans to see this for the first time, and that if I choose I can bring this glorious newness to every single day of my life. It is always there, the sun rising, the moon rising, the earth turning on its axis, and isn’t that amazing?
