Vacation time has arrived. Wednesday will be my busy day of errand running, i.e. starting and completing all Christmas shopping. Thursday is the day that we make that drive down to the sandy beaches of Amelia Island. The laptop may or may not accompany us and so there may or may not be any blogging for a week or so. (This scare just in: My Google Reader might overwhelm me upon my return. Can everyone just not blog until after Christmas? Thanks.)
I plan to improve on my photography skills while I am there. I have a couple of photography books waiting for me at the library and maybe I'll learn a thing or two. I've relied on the automatic settings on my Kodak digital for the past year or so and I really need to learn my way around the manual settings and try to get some shots like I see on Flickr's "Interestingness" pages.
Fernandina Beach, here we come. Sand, prepare to be between my toes. Lighthouses, get ready to pose for my camera. My good friend Milla wants to see you. American Beach, I'm coming down to walk respectfully upon your sand and feel your civil rights history wash upon me.
American Beach was founded in 1935 by Abraham Lincoln Lewis, Florida's first black millionaire. Mr. Lewis owned an insurance company and bought a section of the island so that his black employees would have a nice place to vacation without having to deal with the nightmare that was segregation.My wife's youth is on this tiny island. Her family inhabits this small beach town. I visit and and do my best to fit in (a tough challenge for a shy boy amidst a family who really knows how to have a good time). But in their laughter, they exhibit so much that I love in my bride. Family means everything to her, and with these in-laws of mine, I can easily see why. They are loud and they are beautiful. I might not be the life of their parties, but I feel the love of the family as I relax among them and smile and laugh at their jokes and stories. I just hope that they don't try to get me to sing karaoke with them. I'm just not the karaoke kind.
I'm happy enough that I get to hang out with these guys. I definitely"married up" when I married Paige and found myself related to these good people. Here's to not "fitting in" but loving every minute anyway. Merry Christmas.
4 comments:
Sounds like a wonderful family and not unlike my own. My brother-in-law thankfully did not run off screaming after the first Christmas he spent with us and we adore him totally.
I will miss stopping by and reading while you're gone, but you and Paige and the kids have a wonderful and Merry Christmas and a great time on vacation! (And perhaps I will know of some concrete Hoodoo Gurus show dates by the time you return, fingers crossed...)
Oh! I hope you and your family have a lovely vacation and a joyous Christmas.
I definitely know the "not fitting in" feeling. I always feel that way with groups, especially family. Sounds like a great place for you to be for the holiday :)
I absolutlely adore the way you always speak about Paige. It is really, and I hate to use this word, sweet. All men should speak about their wives that way. That is, unless they are complete bitches.
BTW, I found you in the FHS yearbook of 1985. I was a Junior and you were a Freshman. Everytime I look at that book, I can smell the way those musty old halls smelled. Quite the contrast to what the FHS halls probably smell like now.
Merry Christmas to you and all the little Chez Bez's.
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