Beach Life, part two

We have been coming to the beach forever it seems. When I was very young, we would go to a big lake in the mountains and stay in teeny, tiny dollhouse cottages right on the shore. Two room cottages, one kitchen/dining/living room and one bedroom, with a postage size bathroom between the two. Painted like miniature swiss chalets, we loved going to these cottages every summer.

All of my dad's family would go for the week - aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, great-aunts and great-uncles, siblings, and extended cousins. As a matter of fact, the cottages we stayed in were owned by some distant cousins. There was a main house where the family lived and part of the main house was a social gathering area with pinball machines, card tables, a piano, and a dance floor. Other sissy and I used to love to go up to the "big room" and hang out with the older kids, playing the piano and singing popular songs and dancing.

But if there is anything that is certain in life, it is that things change and so the day came when we didn't go to the mountains anymore for vacation. My parents had discovered the shoreline, aka the beach, and we started coming here instead.

Most of my childhood vacation memories are wrapped up with the beach - going out to the gift shops at night ("knick-knackin'" as Nana would say), eating out at a restaurant maybe once during the two weeks of vacation, buying tons and tons of books at the flea market. 

Ten cents a book in those days.

And buying jewelry. Lots and lots of jewelry. We were always coming home with new rings and earrings and pendants and bracelets - sterling silver, turqoise, agate stones. Vacation was all about the jewelry we would find.

~~~~~~~~~~

So it is kind of poetic that I now hunt for treasure of a different kind. Colorful, odd shaped, each one unique and with its own story to tell. I search for it every time and always manage to find a piece or two or three to bring home, just like I did with that jewelry oh-so-many years ago.

Sea glass.

The best treasure ever. 

After the storm rolled by a few days ago, a gorgeous double rainbow appeared and I grabbed my iPhone to get a panoramic shot. See the rainbow on the left side of the pic?

I love dramatic skies. The dark clouds rumbling and grumbling on the left and bright, sunny blue skies on the right.

My BIL made Dark and Stormy drinks before dinner. Clever fellow, that one is.

Piled everyone into two vehicles, grabbed some lawn chairs, a bunch of snacks, and our sweatshirts and off to the drive-in theatre we went.

There's something magical about watching a movie outside, under the stars, with the sound being played all around you. Cars honking, lights coming on and then quickly getting shut off, peals of laughter wafting through the air from cars in the rows around you.

~~~~~~~~~~

All the kids were sitting in front of the cars. Sissy and BIL were in the car next to us. The Man and I were munching on snack crackers, waiting for the movie to start. I was thinking about other drive-in theatres and other movies we've seen over the years. Movies after we had children and movies before we had children. And how much fun it always seemed.

I looked over at the Man and said, "Wanna make out?"

He grinned.

Almost twenty five years of marriage and he still makes my heart skip a beat.