Reflections Off White Sand

 

By DHMcCarty  7/19

 

Editor’s Note:  This one has been sitting on the shelf for three years. I felt it was time for a resurrection.

We  worked out this thing between us.  Out of respect for .    .    .  time.

Time  spent  married  .    .    .    .     .  time spent before marriage  .    .    .    .    . time spent  parenting.

I  have no bad stories about her.  No horrendous occasions to mark  memory.

Just slow immersion in sameness.

She may have been a part of that, but she wasn’t the reason.

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She drives Bella and Lucy to the beach on Friday, after school.  That way she gets a head start on her own  week.  The following Friday I drive them out to Lakewood Ranch,  to start my seven days.

Anna Maria Island-media-cdn-tripadvisor-com.jp

We bought the beach house from my Grandmother  when she went to the nursing home.  6 of the 8 homes on 68th are owned by retirees, half of which live out of state.  The other two are rented out in season.

Candace  Cunningham lives next door.  She was a teenage friend of my Mother.  We have dinner and drinks on occasion.  It’s good to have a friend next door.  She tells the crowd at Duffy’s  she’s a Cougar.  She’s 72.

Devil Ray at Siesta Beach – mv-minnow-1a-mvminnow-com1.jpg

Rachel teaches at Bayshore High School and the girls both go to Bayshore Elementary, so driving the kids to school during season, is no real chore.

I have  a ’63’ Karmann Ghia convertible.  It’s on  its 3rd engine.  The girls love the attention it gets.  When I pull up to their school,  Bella and Lucy wave like they’re in a parade.

1963 Kharmann Ghia convertible
goldbug.com

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I like to plan little trips.

A Saturday fishing excursion (the short one) makes them sunny and happy, but tired afterwards.  They stay in the shade when we get back to the beach.

They like going to  St. Armands Circle,  I hang in the doorway to let the shopkeepers know they’re attended.  The girls are smiley and polite, so the proprietors don’t mind.

Siesta Key Beach, sand as fine and white as talcum powder -florida-siestakeybeach-org.jp.

Our private little beach is tucked into a tiny alcove on Anna Maria.  The girls love the active scene at Siesta Beach.  Bella pretends she’s  in Malibu, ‘Swimmin Pools, Movie Stars’.

They love the Mote, the museums and community theatre productions in Sarasota.  Ringling is such a treat for them.

‘The Greatest Show on Earth.’

Strip built sea kayak-646513-lumberjocks-com.jpg

I built my first kayak in the garage in Lakewood Ranch.   About 800 labor hours.  I still have the boat,  know where every mistake is.

Now I rent an abandoned gas station in Palmetto, just across the 8th street bridge.  I construct strip built kayaks and canoes there.

‘Dayton Griswell’s Strip Built Design’s’

I’ve got 3 forms going on continually.  I used to build 2 kayaks at a time and one canoe.  Now its more canoe than kayaks.  I’ve sold a total of 16 canoes in New York alone, all upstate.

The kayaks are  commission these days.  The designs have grown more ornate.  I’m building one for a lawyer in Minneapolis.  So far he’s paid me $28,000,  $23,000 of that is labor.

Canoe with seat-1280×853-blackwaterriverguitars-com.jpg

Rachel and I were  married for 12 years before we had children.  We spent more and more time apart.  We thought children would recharge us.  It was time.

I worked as a City Planner for Sarasota.  I hated it.  An endless series of Sarasota social events that Rachel just stopped attending.  I was jealous.

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I met Sean Dennis at  a C of C dinner.  He’s a Marine Biologist at the Mote.  He saw me showing pictures of my kayak progress to Andy Devine.

Sean was working on a canoe. We became friends.

I was sitting on Sean’s dock on the Upper Manatee  when it hit me.  I’d been thinking about coming out here for three days.

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I never anticipated seeing Rachel anymore.  I thought about her but there was no anticipation.

After dinner she would retire to the living room to correct papers or work on her manuscript.  I worked on my kayak.

On Fridays we would make love by the numbers.

We smiled at each other, we just never grinned.

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When I moved to the beach, I quit my City Planning job and started doing contract work for Bradenton and St. Petersburg.  Far less hours and more time working at the beach.  The income didn’t drop much and I had more time for my interests.  Sean suggested I rent the gas station.  He knew the owner.   It sat empty for 2 years,  so, rent was cheap.

It took me three days to clean out the building. Pressure washed from floor to ceiling. I painted the floor and walls a Misty Blue. Suits my mood.

For years I told myself that if you’re not in love, you’re just living. Life is too short to miss out on love.

Now I worry that I’m settling for a strip built love.

With a soundtrack of ‘Misty Blue’.

 

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