We’ve all been there, you plan a family beach vacation for spring break and ten days out you start compulsively checking the weather app on your phone because you know how iffy March can be for Carolina beaches. You watch with frustration as the forecast deteriorates each day from a pleasant 75° and sunny to a dreary 42° and rainy the night before you leave; at which point you frantically repack the suitcases removing all the shorts and t-shirts to make room for sweaters and long-pants. That was us just a few days ago as we piled into the Expedition for a road trip to Myrtle Beach. Despite the signs of spring blooming all around us, mother nature had once again humbled us with a reminder that winter ends only when she says so.
As a veteran of spring breaks that pack a chill, my daughter-in-law booked a hotel with an indoor water park & activity center, afternoon kids club activities, covered mini golf, a fitness center and spa, and several restaurants. Who needs sun and surf to have fun at the beach? Not this crew, I can tell you.
The thing is, other than making sure I bring the right clothes, I don’t give a hoot about the weather. Any other beach trip and I would be just like the others, focusing on how the cloudy sky and cold drizzle has robbed us of waking each morning to those glorious sunrises over the ocean and stolen away our afternoons of fun on the beach. I love those things, who doesn’t? But for me Myrtle Beach is less about any one specific trip and more a treasure trove of memories – starting over 50 years ago with our annual expeditions from Maryland for summer vacation; and then years later watching my own children experience the same joy when they spent summers with my parents who by that point had retired in Myrtle Beach. Once MB became my parent’s home, it was the natural setting for countless family gatherings, holidays and of course, more fun-filled vacations.
Unfortunately, there were also some extremely difficult times as my folks’ health failed in their final years. The place we had associated with such happiness was suddenly laced with sadness and loss. With my sisters still in Maryland, and us in Tennessee, it would have been very easy to never step foot on the Grand Strand again had it not been that my brother and his family also called MB home. Those first few trips back were the hardest, but now after fifteen years of creating new happy family memories, we’re all so grateful Myrtle Beach has remained the place for our growing families to gather.
Over the years, I’ve come to understand that it was the more poignant times that makes this town so special for me, for all my family really. When my sister passed away five years ago, it wasn’t surprising that she wanted Myrtle Beach to be her final resting place, just as our parents had ten years before.
Like most families that vacation here we’ve had more than our share of cheerful times, but we’ve also spent some very solemn moments of our lives here. I’m sure all regular visitors have their favorite routines, but ours have always been a little different. We’ve tended to visit more in the off-season than during the summer and there have been countless trips when we haven’t set foot near the beach. We never go to the big Calabash Seafood Houses or Margaritaville, but we can’t wait to get to local favorites like Dagwood’s and Jimmyz as soon as we hit town. And then there’s the bittersweet component of each trip that makes our experience a little more unique. Cemetery and vacation aren’t usually used in the same sentence; but for us no visit is complete without stopping by my parent’s and sister’s graves. Of course, when the weather permits we love spending time on the beach, but the very best times are often hanging out with family in my brother’s back yard, piling onto their large L-shaped couch to watch football, or going to one of the kid’s soccer games.
So, as I sit in our ocean-front suite typing this blog post and watching the torrential rain pounding the beach, I’m content. We’ll be meeting up with my brother and his family in a few hours at a fundraiser for the Myrtle Beach High soccer program. It strikes me that while I’ve never lived here, my heart is forever connected to Myrtle Beach in ways much deeper than it is to some of the places I have.
