August 31st

Hi it’s Christina –

Good morning! First I want to wish a very Happy Birthday to my Godmother. I love you Aunt Mary, and I hope you have a wonderful birthday!

I am currently sitting on the balcony of our motel, watching the sunrise over the ocean. Not too shabby! It’s breezy, pretty cloudy, and a little chilly, and I’m thinking I should have grabbed a sweatshirt before coming out here, but I am SO not complaining. Okay, I will make a slight grumble over the lack of coffee, but other than that, I’m a happy camper.

We got here by ten yesterday morning, and that’s with leaving half an hour late and making two stops. One stop was at the midway point for a bathroom break, and the second one was when I pulled into Wawa when I noticed we were turning onto a friend’s street, so I gave her a call to ask if I should turn left toward the beach or right toward her house.

I didn’t realize I would be right there because I usually hop on the Parkway in Avalon, and this time I decided to take Route 9 all the way to Rio Grande. I did this for two reasons. One was because I caught a glimpse of the Parkway and said “Uh uh, Not sitting in traffic!”, and the other was because I’m cheap. There’s a toll to get off at Rio Grande from the Parkway, and I didn’t want to pay it.

Bernadette didn’t answer, so we went straight to the hotel. I pulled in and went to the lobby. I told the owner I knew I couldn’t check in yet, but I was hoping he would let us park there so we could go to the beach. Surprise, surprise, our room was ready – five hours before check in time – and he handed me the keys. I was shocked.

The room is tiny, just your basic seaside motel, but it was cute, and more importantly CLEAN. I lucked out. You never know when you’re picking blind and settling for the only available room on the whole island. The owners of the Mark I on E. Atlanta Ave in Wildwood Crest, Chris & Kathy, are really sweet. The pool is great, and we are one small hotel away from being right on the beach. When I come back to Wildwood, I’ll be coming back here.

So we unload our junk, and head for the beach even though the clouds had rolled in. After what happened the other day in Sandy Hook, our usual beach, I wanted to be close to the lifeguards. We find a little patch of sand, set up our area, and go stick our toes in the water. It was a bit chilly, but not terrible. That hurricane reeked all sorts of havoc even though it was over a hundred miles off shore.

I’m out in the water about thigh deep and I hear Dani screech. I turn around and my daughter monkey jumped into the arms of another woman – I was far enough away I couldn’t make out who it was. As I neared, I hear, “Hey Mama!” It was Lisa, one of my son’s friends, and as I got closer, I see she’s with Pam, one of my former cheerleaders, and Maggie, another friend of my son’s.

After a flurry of hugs and kisses, we start chatting. Their hotel is right across the street from ours, and their blanket is right in front of ours on the beach. When we dropped our stuff, we just noticed a bunch of bathing beauties in front of us, but not who they were. (It’s not like I was actively looking for them.)

It turns out, a whole bunch of my son’s other friends were coming down later, and we did get to see them before they went out clubbing. It was so nice to see them all, even for a brief time. The pack of them were always at my house, and since PJ’s moved out, I never get to see them anymore, and I miss them. When he moved out, it was like I lost a dozen of my kids all in one swoop.

My battery’s about to die, and there are no hook-ups out here, so I have to wrap up quickly. We found a bunch of hermit crabs while walking the beach, but the guy at the store told us they were the wrong type of crabs so they wouldn't survive in the cages he sold. We had dinner on the boardwalk. I grabbed a sausage sandwich from Hot Spot, Paulie and the kids grabbed pizza, and then we got a bucket of fries and orange and lemon drinks from Curley’s. After dinner, since the rides held no appeal to either kids, we played some Fascination, and then we dropped Dani and Adam off to meet up with some of their other friends for an hour. Everyone was home and in bed by 11:30.

Since I’m on vacation, there will be no writing challenge today or tomorrow. I hope you have a fantastic day, and happy writing!

(Sorry, no real pictures today. The camera is somewhere in the room, and I don't want to wake everyone trying to hunt for it. I'll post pictures tomorrow.)