This week, Shelley and I have spent the week with kids and grandkids at Rosemary Beach, Florida near Panama Beach City. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time with our loved ones. Watching our grandchildren grow up—those with us this week and those in Kansas City who aren’t with us on this trip—is wonderful. It’s a fact. Grandkids are indeed the dessert of life and we have loved every minute of our time with them.
So here are my observations about the “grueling lifestyle” on the Gulf coast where temperatures hover around 89-90 degrees, the water is just as warm, and the sky is filled with sunlight.
Getting Here: We arrived safely in Florida, but not without an incident. Fifty miles from Panama City on Florida Route 231, I ran over a piece of metal that punctured the sidewall of my right rear tire. I limped to a safe place, loosened (I thought) all the lug nuts and was raising the tire when a Youth Pastor stopped and began helping me. But when we went to remove the lugs fully, I realized one of them was one of those “locking lugs” that required a special lug nut socket to remove it. It has a star-like bit. I had the right socket in my spare tire well, but when I went to engage it, I managed to strip the socket. The locking lug would not budge. Unable to do more, the Pastor departed, and I called AAA. Just when I hung up, another Good Samaritan, a sunburnt working fellow—the son of a Navy Seal—stopped with a rusty truck filled with every tool imaginable. He proceeded to pound the daylights out of the special lug socket until it engaged firmly, and the last lug came off in a flash. Ten minutes later, the tire was changed, the second rescuer was rewarded with a cold beer from my cooler (the Pastor probably wouldn’t have wanted such) and he was on his way. I then was called by the AAA fellow to see if I still needed help and I told him all was OK. He said for me to call him back personally if there were more problems and he would find me.
Lesson-learned 1: God will send you the help you need until the job is done. Lesson-learned 2: NEVER use those locking lugs. Lesson-learned 3: Carry cold beer with you on road trips. Lesson-learned 4: Don’t tell me that we’re an evil nation…
Vacationers : You meet all types of people when you’re on vacation. I’m happy to report that the folks who have taken up temporary residence at Rosemary Beach are quite pleasant and polite. Most are from Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Texas. Everyone greets everyone else with a “how-yoo” or “more’nin” or “howdy,” a reflection of the general happiness of vacationers as well as some southern hospitality. I jog (kinda) each day along with other runners, bicyclers, and many golf cart users. Amazingly no one seems to bump into anyone else, unlike northern Virginia traffic.
Food: Food is the enemy of the waistline on vacations. Nonetheless, I’m trying to eat healthy to at least not fall too far back from my weight loss of recent weeks. Back at it by the weekend. I have rediscovered ice cream this week. I will undiscover it next.
Our Digs: We’re staying in a wonderful single floor home on a pleasant corner. The design is beachy with a porch that spans the front and side of the structure. Just 285 paces from a huge and wonderful community pool and a ten-minute walk to one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen. The sand is a fine quartz that makes it stunningly white while giving the water a clear blue-green tint. It’s wonderful. It would be easy to remain here.
Taking Time Off: We are all so busy with life. I am. Even retired, my writing is my constant companion. I’m just now finishing a second book that I have to deliver to my publisher by 1 October. The book focuses on my time as a U.S. Army military observer with the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization in southern Lebanon. That was a dangerous place, the “Wild West” without a good saloon. I prefer Rosemary Beach, west Florida with good saloons.
The Right Answer: So, I have been writing a final chapter in between trips to the pool and the beach with grandchildren. They don’t care much about why granddaddy spends time at his laptop writing as long as I get the answers right to the most important questions: “Granddaddy, will you take me to the pool now?” Guess what the answer is…
Next stop Virginia…and then to the Riv’ah to finish this book…until a grandkid happens by…
PS: I have about 20 hardback copies of my book Desert Redleg: Artillery Warfare in the First Gulf War left and would love to get a copy to you. Just visit Shop on my website and order one directly from me, autographed and personalized as you desire.
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