SUMMARY: When folks plan for a vacation on the beach, they hardly ever take into account the fact that it might rain every day for their week, but that's where Mike Dewey, currently enjoying his 15th summer on the Carolina Coast, can be of some service.
ATLANTIC BEACH, NC – Few things in life make you feel more helpless than watching it rain for days on end, knowing that its no ones fault, but feeling on a visceral level that someones got to be responsible.
Trust me on this.
Shaking your clenched fist at the bruised and leaden sky will do nothing to bring the sun out from behind those purplish clouds that seem to hang above the ocean like a smirking reminder of human impotence.
You might as well rail against the death sentence mortals all face.
Or rage against the unfairness of a lost love, the one who got away but remains a pebble in the sneaker of your soul.
Fair?
You want fair?
Wait until the fall comes and you can walk around the midway, riding the rides and checking out the blue-ribbon pies and baseball card collections.
A trip to the county fair might not mitigate the disappointment of a summer vacation plagued by endless storms and a bleak forecast, but heres my take.
If youre lucky enough to be on a beach in August, youre lucky enough.
Whats that youre saying?
Thats easy for you, to say Mike. You live a half-hour from the Atlantic Ocean. You can get there any time you want. I worked 60-hour weeks for months to be able to save enough to travel 14 hours for a week on the beach and its done nothing but rain all day, every day. Shut up!
OK.
I get that.
It sucks.
But let me ask you this.
When youre snowed in, buried, three feet of snow outside your front door and Januarys brutal stretch leading only to Februarys merciless gloom, what would you rather remember?
Sitting on a beach chair, sipping a cool drink and making the best of a sodden, dreary afternoon or staying cooped in a hotel room, letting the weather get the best of you?
To me – and I have some experience in this Hobsons Choice – its always better to think to yourself, I didnt come all this way not to make the best of it
THEN AGAIN, its not easy to pack up the family when its raining sideways the horizon is the color of an 8 ball, winds gusting to 40 knots and the entire expanse of sand as empty as Municipal Stadium on an August night with the Tribe 30 games out of first place.
But theres – if youll pardon the pun – always a silver lining. Back in the late Seventies and early Eighties, if you felt like taking in an Indians game, you could decide to go 90 minutes before the first pitch and get fantastic seats.
Sometimes, it rained and you and your friends just waited it out.
Things tend to get better. Thats been true for as long you failed that first physics test in your junior year of high school.
Theres only one way to go.
So you try and apply yourself and, well, most of the time, you can get that F to a C, maybe even a B-minus.
You have no illusions of earning an A. Not happening, not like in English or Journalism or Speech or History, even Geometry, where it comes so easy.
Physics class bit the big one.
But you had to take it to fill out that space on your transcript.
When I got out with a C-plus, I felt relief.
If youre lucky enough to pass high school physics, youre lucky enough.
Which takes us back to the beach and the third straight day of soaking showers, no respite in sight and its easy to fall back into the trap of self-pity.
Dont do that.
If you dont feel like taking on the elements, sitting stubbornly and saying, Is that all you got?? Bring it on. Im on vacation and Im not letting you win!! you can always find other ways to make the day memorable.
In our case – with our grandson, his mom and her niece on the coast – my wife and I suggested a trip to the Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores.
True, it wasnt exactly deserted; in fact, thousand of folks seemed to have arrived at the same decision, but with its floor-to-ceiling tanks teeming with sharks and turtles and too many colorful fish to name, not to mention jellyfish floating, pulsing with life, it was a sensory overload.
You could touch a stingray, you could study baby gators, you could simply sit and enjoy the angelfish, the striped bass, the sea horses and the octopi, learning that the fragile coastal ecosystem is a marvelous thing, almost a miracle.
AND MAYBE THATS the point. Its never easy to wake up so far from home, peering out the window and seeing only the same old crap, the same old sheeting showers, the parking lot flooded, the sky the shade of green that puts you in mind of the Wicked Witch of the Wests hatchet face.
I spent a lot of time, not only with the family, but talking with folks who, like us, were making the best of a less-than-optimal situation.
Should clear up by Monday afternoon, a kid of about 15 told me as he stocked shelves in one of those touristy souvenir shops. Tuesday morning at the latest.
Cool, I said. I mean, it cant rain every day, right?
Nossir, he said. Um, how long yall staying?
I walked on, encouraged
My wife has an entirely different attitude when it comes to discouraging forecasts.
She considers them the gospel truth.
And while Im well known for saying, Those guys are only guessing, theres a part of me that worries about weeklong washout.
But never is heard a discouraging word and I always do my best to keep everyones spirits high which is, my wife points out when things go from wet to soaked, among my gifts.
You rescued us yesterday, she said. You can do it again today.
I love her confidence in me, but I worry about letting her down.
So, simply said, I wont.
To put a bow on this hopeful little essay, lets assume that storm fronts move in, they linger and then they blow away.
Lets also posit the fact that a summer vacation on the Carolina coast is vastly better, by definition, than what you left behind.
Further, lets agree that soon enough the real world will swallow you whole, like that shark in Jaws and the way it ingests Quint, snuffing his caustic candle in two big bites.
Given all that, I can only drive home the point Ive been trying to make.
If youre lucky enough to be spending time with those who love, the ocean waiting, the waves crashing and yes, the sky spitting stinging rain, youre lucky enough.
Things will get better.
Count on it.
Mike Dewey can be emailed at CarolinamikeD@aol.com or snail-mailed at 6211 Cardinal Drive, New Bern, NC 28560. He invites you to hang out with kindred souls on his Facebook page.
