The waves crashed and made merry noise just one hundred yards from the second level screened porch where we gathered. Giggling women around a table snacking on whatever everyone grabbed from their house for an impromptu party. My friend Kerriann came to visit on Tybee for a few days during spring break. It seemed like old times as we told stories and laughed until we cried about memories from before she moved away. Kerriann was one of the first people we met on the second day after we moved to Tybee. We had been introduced by our friend Mel, who had also moved away a couple years ago.
One of our favorite memories was one skate night at the Tybee YMCA. My friend had been going through a challenging time as life sometimes throws us a curve ball. When skate night was over, and the staff was showing us to the door (aka kicking us out), but we were not ready to leave. We walked to the back of the Y which leads to Memorial Park. You never have to go far to get from one place to another when you live on a 3 mile island. The kids resumed their playtime at the playground and a handful of adults continued our party under the pavilion. Feasting on leftover cold pizza and sipping cool mojitos from Mel’s magic bag. The summer humid air stuck to our skin and we didn’t care as our hair went awry from the dampness. Sean told stories that kept us all laughing well into the night, in fact we were there past the time the auto shutoff turns the lights off in the park. The kids continued to play via cell phone flashlights. Kerriann reminds me that this night as a good memory in a dark time for her. It is the practical work of Proverbs 17:22 A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.
That was just one night of many that we have shared with friends that have touched and changed our lives in the four years we’ve lived here.
Hanging out last night with some of that “original crew” was a bit nostalgic for me. Taking me back to when we first arrived and every day we were in awe of the new friendships that came to us. Life carries on and people have to follow where it leads them. Family decisions, career paths and other factors keep the river flowing. It is impossible to ever step back in a river in the same place you once had been, though it is refreshing to relive happy and joyous times through sharing memories of once upon a time.
It makes me realize how much I appreciate and savor every moment of these beautiful times I have been privileged to share with family, friends and loved ones. These moments really are what life is made of.