Searching for Seaglass: A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE

It's time to start planning our summer vacation and we usually have a pretty fun adventure planned. The boys and I are returning to Mexico to do some work in Merida with our church and we are excited about that. But when it came time to plan this summer's outing, I was kind of surprised at what our teen boys proposed. "I want to go back to Hilton Head" my youngest said, " we haven't been able to go there for three years". Several years ago, the school board changed the calendar to start school ridiculously early...the first week in August. This killed our family tradition of joining my mom (and my sister's family) during Mom's mid-August time share. For those of you thinking: why didn't she just change her time share? Not so easy when everyone with school age children is crunching summer into two months. Availability where she wants it is more limited AND it a shorter summer is bad for the economy. Anyway...

Sea Pine's Plantation on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, has been special to me since I was just a little girl of about 7 and my parents bought the time share there. My own family went every summer and I learned how to shrimp, crab and paint my body with lowcountry pluff mud. When we got married and had children of our own, Pat and I first brought them to the low country as tiny babies babies from our home in California. We were creating a family tradition, though we didn't know it at the time.

The boys and their cousins several years ago on the dock behind our timeshare

South Beach, Sea Pines, Hilton Head

Keegan, age 3, with my dad Jim Plumb holding Sean age 18 months while on vacation in Sea Pines

My daddy looked forward to his week in Hilton Head every year with an almost reverence and toward the end of his life, he extended one week to two. A memory "postcard" that often pops in my head is my father sitting on the little porch outide the Hilton Head spot, cocktail in hand, the requisite book in the other, surrounded by "his" girls; completely and utterly happy. And now "my" boys want to create the same kind of memories? I'm in!

The boys and I in 2007 - they are now both taller than me.

Pat hasn't been able to come with us to Hilton Head since the boys were really small (due to pressing work issues). Plus mom's place only had so much space; my sister's family and us Flanigans and mom made for a pretty chaotic environment. So when I mentioned that the boys wanted to rent a house there this summer, his response was..."Hilton Head? What can I do there?" Pat is a goer and a doer and just can't sit on the beach for long. He doesn't read books or relax well so I had to remind him of all the things we can do:

* Crabbing

*Fishing

*Shrimping

*Rent a boat/jetski

*Kayaking

*Bikes

*Tennis

*Golf

*Shopping

*Historical trips to Beaufort, Dafuski, Savannah and other surrounding areas

Crabbing on the dock

Some of the catch

Now my mom is happily getting remarried in May at our farm and she and Charlie will be living on Hilton Head at Sun City and we'd love to see them while we are there. My sister and her family live nearby in Savannah so we can visit with them too. But we might like to spend some of the time, just us together, in this magical place that I hope will continue to create memories for the "future" generations to come!