From the travel journal - South Carolina - days 3 & 4

Day 3 - Our mornings started off pretty much the same. Maya and family got up early and ate and exercised. Our family got up when we felt like it. I usually wandered over with my coffee to check up on the other clan and then the kids usually followed me home. They were helpful in getting up my kids. This day we had a reprieve in the rain. Maya and Auntie Marilyn insisted thought we should walk to the beach for some exercise and fresh air and off we went; Joyce, Auntie Marilyn, Maya, myself, and the kids. Tom was no where to be seen and Jay joined us at the last minute. He wanted to drive to the beach, but we insisted thought the walk would do us all some good.

We set off through the resort to the road and turned right toward the path we thought would be the quickest route to the beach. I had no idea of direction, as usual, and so I went with the flow in an effort to please these walkers. The day was cloudy, but the rain from that morning had stalled and the air, despite being cold, was refreshing and quite nice. Joyce and Auntie Marilyn lagged behind us and I should have joined them, but I was determined to distance myself from the older age/older bodies to align myself with the younger age/younger bodies in an effort to deny reality. I paid for that.

As we walked along the two youngest kids wanted to walk with the two older kids and Maya would yell up from our position behind them to alert them to various areas and items of interest. As we strolled she suddenly stopped talking to me mid sentence and yelled to the kids, "Guys, look a...oh." She stopped. The pelican up ahead of us was not real. Tee hee.

We found the beach. I was rethinking Jay's suggestion of driving by the time we arrived, but once we arrived and saw the Atlantic everything else drifted away. The kids ran and played games. Marilyn contemplated. I built a sandman. Maya and Jay took photos. We all chatted and enjoyed the beach.

On the walk back it began to rain again, a misty, slow drizzle. We spent the rest of the day playing cards and games and talking. On Tuesday we went into Charleston for the day. Joyce and James took Marilyn to their place north of the city and the rest of us went in our cars to explore Charleston.

It was raining again as we arrived, but as always not a hard rain. Tom spent considerable time parallel parking on the street. We offered quite a bit of help and suggestions. My favorite was Darcy finally saying, "Dad. Just let Mom in the driver's seat and she will do it." It took about 20 minutes, but finally he was satisfied and we looked for a place to eat. Maya and family texted us their lunch place and so we ate there too before strolling the outdoor shopping district where we actually ran into Darcy's friend from Florida.

From shopping we left to do our Thanksgiving grocery shopping at a Publix near my cousin Jason's house. I had ordered Madison a cake that we picked up and we all ran around as Jay gave us orders of the items he would need to put together his famous feast. We left the grocery and arrived at Jason's on time, or so we thought, but apparently Joyce had given us the wrong time. Jason's wife Lori was at the stove preparing her famous South Carolina grits and shrimp, deemed by the mayor of Charleston to be "the best". Jason was vacuuming.

The evening was wonderful. Lori fed nineteen of us. We had a scrumptious dinner with plenty of wine. The kids got acquainted with one another. Jason's sister, my cousin Mandy, and her kids were there. It had been seven years since I had seen her and her youngest had just been an infant then. Ewan felt very left out with all the girls and there were some tears, but we all labeled the evening a success. We would all meet up again at the Wyndham in the next couple of days.