Never Say Never
Have you ever said never When my children were smaller, I swore
off Myrtle Beach SC. It was too crowded,
too commercial, and not impressive. It
was always close and affordable. I held
more than 2 decades of memories there. For
the most part I always had a really good time.
That is until one year while my children were younger, we
went for 4th of July weekend.
We had just had our second child,
were exhausted, and it was hot. The
beach was more crowded than I’ve ever experienced, and it was
overwhelming. My oldest son was playing
on the shore. The currents kept drifting
him down the shoreline, and it was an ongoing chore to keep up with him
visually. We were taking turns checking on him.
I started breast feeding, and looked down and my husband was
asleep. I immediately jumped up and ran
looking for our other son. I couldn’t
find him. My whole world stopped and
went into slow motion. It was the
scariest 20 minutes of my life.
As we frantically searched around, an onlooking mother asked
me if I was looking for my son, who’d she had seen me instructing
previously. I swallowed my pride and
started crying YES! I was overwhelmed in
embarrassment and shame that I had lost my kid in mere moments. She
told me we had to immediately notify the lifeguards, which I would not have
thought to do. It was mere moments, and
he was missing.
I had told my child that if they were ever in public and
couldn’t find me, to go to a women holding a small baby and ask her for
help. He did. If felt like days, but a short time later,
the life guards met in the middle and brought him back to us.
Needless to say that days were taken off my life in the form
of stress impact. In that moment, I realized a lot. We can’t take anything for granted, not even
for a second. I had made a poor
judgement call. My whole life flashed in front of me in that
single moment and gave me blinding clarity on some major decisions I would be
making soon after. I realized that God
was looking out for me and my kids from dangers seen and unseen, and was incredibly
humbled, and grateful. This terrible
thing happened to me at Myrtle Beach, and I was never going back.
Since that time I’ve visiting some incredible beaches near
home in some pretty cool places. Here
are my favorites
- · Tybee Island Savannah GA
- · Kinekeet Beach- OBX NC
- · Sullivan’s Island- Charleston SC
- · Ormond Beach – Daytona FL
- · Anywhere in the Gulf Coast- FL
- · South Beach Miami FL
I had no interest in returning, until this month. We managed to stay away for 10 years. A fluke
of events occurred for me to go with
expenses paid. How could I say no?
So never and a day came.
I swallowed my ego, forgave myself, and drove to the beach. The memories immediately began to flood me,
even on the drive down. Decades of
wonderful memories. Then it hit me, bad experiences don’t make a
place bad. It just means you have to
create new experiences, if you love the place.
It was time for me to forgive Myrtle Beach.
I went to Myrtle Beach, and remembered my youth. It was our go to beach as teenagers and young
adults. I watched it grow and
develop. It has matured, and so have I. I
created new memories that I’ll cherish with my kids (who are much older)
So, it will go back
on my list, probably last, but definitely with the most bang for the buck and
place to manifest new luck. Never say
never, because you may be going back, but not in time. You’ll be going back to a location in a new dimension. One where you can create better memories.
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