A Family Tradition Comes to an End

My family and I recently returned from our annual beach week vacation.  Before I can tell you about this year's trip, I have to give you the background. For the last 14 or so years, my Mom and I and eventually my husband and son have been going to the Outer Banks the week of Memorial Day.  We've stayed in the same cottage every year - the Beach Shack - and we've come to think of it as our home away from home.  The Beach Shack was nicer than my first house! 

The Beach Shack - our perfect little home away from home.

It started out back in the mid 1990's with a group of ladies - my Mom's friends from church and me (I was the youngest of the group!) We'd go to the beach, walk to Kmart, go out to eat, sit on the porch, shop, talk and laugh, and there was nothing like gathering around the dining room table for a good game of Liverpool Rummy and Dominoes.  Over the years we'd have as many as 7 or 8 people there at any given time, and the ages ranged from 20's to 70's.  Those were some great times.  In December of 2003, my Mom's best friend Jean passed away, so going to the beach after that was different, and every time we'd walk to Kmart, we'd think of Jean because it was one of her favorite things to do at the beach. Eventually, Joyce, the lady who rented the cottage for the group decided she didn't want to do it anymore, so Mom started getting it for us to go and Honey would come down on the weekends when he was able to get off of work.  Our son Bubba's first trip to the Beach Shack was in 2006 when he was 7 months old.  He loved the cottage, although the beach and the ocean took some getting used to.

Bubba's first trip to the beach - 2006

We knew this family tradition would come to an end after 2011 because Bubba would be starting Kindergarten, so we'd have to pick a different week to come down to the beach in 2012.  But we didn't know that 2010 was to be our last year at the Beach Shack.  Looking back, I am really bummed that my last week spent at the Beach Shack I was sick with what turned into pneumonia and Bubba was getting over Strep Throat. In December 2010 we discovered that the Beach Shack was up for sale. It broke my Mom's heart seeing that for sale sign in the yard.  She was so upset she even started to wonder if we could afford to buy it - at $285,000 fully furnished, it was a steal.  The owner said we could sign a lease for "our week" and the new owner would have to honor it, but as it turned out the new owners from Maryland wanted to live in OBX year-round, so we had to find another cottage at the last minute to keep our Memorial week vacation plans.

Our New Beginning for 2011...how will it compare to the Beach Shack???