(Old Posts) Little by Little

Monday, June 11, 2001

We got up early this morning, tried to check email, but couldn’t get authentication.  We decided to drive up to Florence and stay and explore the area.  We pulled into the RV park and what was to be a little work became several hours worth, so we lost some time.  We took a ride up the coast when we were finished, but it was raining so hard that I couldn’t take the cameras out.  I donned my Gortex™ boots and my bright blue rain jacket and pants.  I look like a big, bright blue balloon walking around.  We had a pleasant drive, nonetheless.  Given the weather, we decided to go and walk around Old Town Florence, which is a delightful seaside town.  Some beautiful, but expensive shops.  I enjoyed it in spite of the rain.

Movie
We passed a movie and Pearl Harbor was playing.  I knew Dad wanted to see it so I told him to go ahead, and I would come back to pick him up at 7:00 p.m.  The movie is three hours.  At first he hesitated, but I knew he would be bored stiff if we came back here, and I also figure it gives him a rest from driving.  We’ll see what we want to see on the way up.  For the most part, we’ve seen every nook and cranny over the past three years so we don’t have to go to some of the lighthouses, which brings me to the subject of postcards.

Postcards
I have had postcards sitting on the table for two days, now, and didn’t I forget to take them with me this morning.  That makes me so mad.  I said to Dad this morning, I’ll mail them at the camp office, but he said to wait, they’d get out quicker from the Post Office.  Well, I missed the boat on that one.  So, I’m just going to curl up here with a book for a couple of hours and enjoy the rest.  Will write later.  I really enjoy the email from the boys, and of course Susan keeps in touch via phone.  I just got off with her not long ago.

Decisions for my Daughter

The phone was ringing as I got back into the car, and it was Susan.  I know that she is struggling with her decision to go to Charleston.  Her logic tells her it’s the right thing to do, but her heart wants to stay here.  I generally say go with the heart, but I think change will be the best thing in the world for Susan.  The great thing is, is that she will only be 5-1/2 hours away, there is a great campground within 10 minutes of her so we’ll get to see her often.  I just feel sorry for her—no matter how close we are, it is a lonely decision that she has to make on her own.  I wish I had the right words to comfort her—but I just don’t.  I believe that she will love it once she is there, however, and that’s what’s most important.  And, as I said to her, she always has an alternative--if she finds that she doesn’t like it, she already has a career.  She is so bright that I can’t see that happening.  Her mind is like a sponge when it comes to learning.

Today's Realities
Dad and I would feel better if she was more comfortable, financially.  In today’s world, even married women should be self-sufficient considering the divorce rate.  No one marries expecting to divorce, but it happens, nonetheless.  Sad, but true.  Women have to be able to support themselves and their kids, regardless of how happy a marriage appears to be in the beginning.  The main thing, as I told her today, is that she is happy in the moment, regardless of what she is doing.  She is a worrier.  I think she gets that from both her Dad and me.  I want her to embrace the change coming up in her life and live each moment for what it is.  I don’t know how I can convince her.  Her friend Katherine, who is already at Charleston told her that it wasn’t her “calling” but she knew she had to do it for money.  Her calling is to her faith, in my opinion.  I know her Dad is a doctor, and I think she told me her mother is, too.  I think that kind of bothered Susan, but what she doesn’t understand is that, that may be the way Katherine looks at it, but Susan would be able to concentrate in cardiology, the field that she loves.  Katherine’s love is the church.

I can’t tell you how much I love this coast—rain and all.  Peter Dueber said it very well:

Walk The Beach…(For Sherry)

"To find a treasure. To exercise the limbs, to soothe the soul. To praise God and to admire His handwork, To marvel at the birds that play against the sky and clouds. To watch the waves as they dance their way over and around the rocks. To feel the sun and the wind pressed against my face and to run from the foam grasping for my feet. To think ... to reflect. To see a million years of conflict and realize that life is as simple as ... 'THE LAND AND THE SEA'. To walk hand in hand with nature and draw upon its energy ... which is nerer-ending and as constant as the stars. And no matter how far apart my visits might measure ... I am always free to renew an old acquaintance with myself." By Peter Dueber©

Rain, Postcards, and Mitchell Field

I picked Dad up from the movie at 7:00 p.m.  He was disappointed in it.  We stopped at the supermarket, and we went home and ate a nice dinner.  It looked, for a while, like it was going to clear, but when I left at 6:45 to pick up Dad, the skies opened up and it rained so hard that it was raining sideways.  It’s supposed to start to clear tonight.  We shall see.  I finally sent the postcards that I got behind in.  I will mail some more tomorrow, and then I am caught up.  I just haven’t been on the ball finding Post Offices this time.  That, and Dad almost always talks me out of leaving them in the campsite office to be mailed because he thinks we’ll get them out faster from the Post Office—then, we don’t get to the Post Office.  Oh, well, bellyaching won’t help.  Oh, by the way, the opening scenes of the movie were at Mitchell Field where Grampa worked for so many years, as a fireman.