Much love to the Carolina’s

Just a week before the storm I visited the Carolina’s for my very first time and it was amazing guys! 🤗🤗🤗 I went with a girlfriend that is newly retired and loves to travel! She is really great company by the way, lol! We were excited to meet new people,

to taste the food, to see what entertainment was available and if any of it compared to home?

Well, the people were warm, the food was delicious and they have Dolphins, so the entertainment was amazing!

We met lots of Locals as well as other out of town visitors such as ourselves. Everyone seemed friendly,  fun, willing to share conversations,  stories as well as helpful information. It just all made us feel like we were at home… thx again guys!

We stayed in the Murrells Inlet area of South Carolina.

We ate at Miyabi Japanese Grill, Crabby Mike’s Calabash Seafood Buffet, Coastal Creamery, Ellington’s at Wachesaw Plantation East, Captain Dicks at Crazy Sister Marina, Blue Wave Adventure “Dolphin watching tour”, Grahams Landing Cafe… “hey Rob”, “Ocean HWY” a.k.a. HWY 17 Bypass N. and Business 17 is pretty much where we hung out the most. We went to Myrtle beach for a bit just to put our feet in the sand and catch some sun and experience more of the wonderful vibes from the locals. Great atmosphere, OMG… just beautiful people everywhere!

I love that at Myrtle beach there was a Free Sunburn and tanning lotion Ministry Station, I thought that was cool!

I’m that person that talks to strangers as long as I don’t get weirded out 🤪🤡👺 in any way prior to the conversation,  lol! I enjoy people, I’m always looking to learn something new via a good hearty conversation with young or old, rich or poor, black or white, etc…!  I learned a lot from the locals… I learned that the property taxes in the Carolina’s are a lot cheaper than Illinois… Somebody please fix Illinois! Anyway,  let me say to say hello to our new friends at the Crazy Sister Marina and the staff at the Ellington Resort… you guys rock, thx again for all your love and information!

 

We relaxed poolside, cooked breakfast every morning in a beautiful,  fully equipped kitchen and even watched the golfers tee-off from our enclosed patio, safe from  🐜🐝🐞🕷🕸 👈 🤣😂🤣! Hope to visit again sometime soon but in the meantime… I will be praying for you all…  for strength, recovery, restoration, health, bravery and so much more! My condolences to the ones you lost! 🤗

The Journey Begins, the years of young!

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

Our journey, our lives…

Let me tell you… a true story about when I was younger. There are so many times as a pre-teen, I didn’t listen to my mother and it could have cost me my life! As you can see… I survived whatever the situation or situations were, there was several in a short amount of time in my life! This particular time, when I was 12 years old, my mother punished me for breaking curfew. I was at the dinner table doing my homework and my mom told me to run to the grocery store to pick up meat she would then cook for dinner. As I completed my assignment, the idea of going to the store sounded mighty good to me. The possibility of seeing my friends were high! I went to the restroom, fixed my ponytail, straightened my clothes and threw on some deodorant! Knocking on mom’s bedroom door, yelling, “I’m ready to go, what do you need”! Mom comes out with a $10 bill and a small torn piece of paper with a few items on it… 2lbs of ground chuck and a small yellow onion! She says in a serious voice, “Go straight to the store, get the items on this paper and get back in this house… do you hear me?” As I began to reply, she interrupted,  “Don’t make me have to come looking for you out there, do you understand? ” With the straightest face possible,  I replied, “Yes Mom!” And so… I walked out of the door, ran down the stairs and out of the door, immediately scanning for friends! It was a warm breezy midwest evening over east by the lakefront. So exciting to get into something, my walk almost turning into a skip, lol! I’d arrive at the store, without a friend in sight, the same inside of the store as well. So, I took the long way home and stopped to visit a friend just a few blocks in the opposite direction. This wasn’t gonna take long, just going to say, “Hi” is what I was thinking to myself. Approaching my friend’s place and seeing her out front made me happy as ever to not have to ring her bell and wait. We greeted one another with hugs and smiles! She asked, “How did you get outside,  aren’t you supposed to be on punishment?” I held up the grocery bag of stuff and she shook her head and giggled! We talked for a bit then she invited me to go hang out with a some of her friends that were much older and of the opposite sex. She said just to the beach to chill so I figured I could always go with them, then walk home anytime I felt like it. We jumped in the van with the guys, then took off! I introduced myself,  they did the same. We all exchanged conversations with one another about how we all met each other. Anyway, by now the driver has entered lake shore drive heading south and I quietly began freaking out, yet excited at the same time! “Hey guys, what beach are we going to?” I questioned? One dude replied, “Hayes Beach!” I didn’t plan to go that far, know I would be late as ever getting home and the meat could possibly spoil. It hadn’t dawned on me that, my mother was going to kill me and that should be my biggest concern! Well, I was gone and “Trouble” was my middle name! We paired up with the older guys, kissing them while sitting on the beach. Playing music, singing and being silly as ever! Time flew, I left the house at 6pm and it was now going on 10pm. I asked them to take me home and they said ok, but by the time we actually got to my house it was 11:30pm because we ended up with a flat tire. Once, the guys did the repairs, we were on our way! The meat I’d purchased for dinner was warm and mom was gonna flip! Pulled up in front of my building and in the vestibule was standing my mother. My friend and I got out of the van, my mother walked up to us without speaking. She slapped both of us in the face and told us she feels like killing me because she feared what could have happened for me to be gone to the store for so long and that she had been all over the neighborhood searching for me! This is not the dumbest thing I’ve ever done but my advice is to follow your parents directions because they love you and knows what’s best for you! Now don’t get me wrong parents don’t know everything, most try their best! Put it like this… your parents are smarter than you mainly because of the length of time they’ve been on this earth. Time and experience is everything in life!