| So this is our first vacation as a family of five. Since I was a girl, my father took us to the Outer Banks off the coast of North Carolina. It was always a magical, relaxing, quiet, secluded place. There were no TV's, no phones, no air conditioning, and no newspapers. My memories include chasing the sand crabs with flashlights and the millions of stars in the sky. It had pirate stories and ghost stories and soothed my soul like no other place I've been yet. Of course, those are my memories as a girl. As with most things, the tranquility is a thing of the past. So many people have discovered the charm of the Outer Banks and it has exploded into a tourists' mecca. We still seek out those quiet little spots, though they're harder and harder to find. Now we still go with my mother and father only we bring our husbands and children. I see my father watching his grandchildren and my mother chasing after more children then she dreamed possible. But still, when everyone is asleep, and I look at the stars I see they are still there... millions of them. I close my eyes and I'm again that girl whose soul is soothed if only for a few moments. |
