On the Beach

Our blue Chevy Malibu pulled up to a townhouse in a rental committee. I turned the car off, opened the door, and was hit by a wall of humidity.

My wife Katie got out of the car. She squealed.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I stepped on a lizard.”

Katie had stepped on a lizard.

Up two flights of stairs, I unlocked our beach rental. It was hotter inside than it was outside. I checked the thermostat. 87 going on 250. A knock on the door interrupted my heat stroke.

“Air conditioner is broke,” a man said in a southern accent. Katie and I watched him work from the living room of our sweat lodge. He was finished fifteen minutes later.

“It’s fixed, but it will take a few hours to cool down.”

It took a few hours to cool down, and Katie and I had arrived on Kiawah Island in South Carolina.

***

Katie and I woke up early the next morning. We grabbed two beach chairs, some towels, and our son’s stuffed animals. A boardwalk led us to the beach.

We started walking south. One mile became two. The sun was beating down. We dodged a cuttlefish. Katie narrowly avoided being eating by a crawfish. The tide almost took me to Europe. We nearly made it to the southern tip of Kiawah Island before turning around and returning to two beach chairs, some towels, and our son’s stuffed animals.

Solomon sent two baby unicorns to South Carolina with us. Samson sent a baby sloth. We took pictures of these stuffed animals in a variety of poses. Sitting on beach chairs. Swimming in the Atlantic. We texted these photos to our children so they could be involved in our journey to South Carolina.

This is the first time Katie and I spent more than a night away from our children since they were born. Samson is 10 now. Solomon is 12. Old enough to experience a little distance from their parents.

I’ve been promoted to full professor. I’ll be department chair next year. Katie and I have been married fifteen years. I am in need of some time on a beach.

I’m finishing three books, two with my friend and colleague who lives in South Carolina. Meeting up with Erin is a regular part of my working life. Bringing Katie along and enjoying some down time is new.

***

The day after my 46th birthday, I drove to Minnesota. The boy stayed with family, Katie and I were dropped at MSP, and we were in South Carolina before you can say the word humidity.

All of this lead to Katie and standing in the Atlantic Ocean as the waves rolled over us. We sat on the beach. We went through many bottles of sunscreen. I have not spent much time on beaches in my life.

It was very nice to spend time on a beach.