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OAK ISLAND , NC
Each morning I would go surfing at daybreak in order to catch the swells that were yet unspoiled by the strong sea breeze which would intensify as the day progressed due to the uneven heating of the air over water versus the heating of the air over land. This wind would eventually cause the water to whitecap and get very choppy later on in the day, creating a condition known in surfing as �BLOWN OUT�. Therefore, most late afternoons were spent on other activities, especially fishing from the pier, which I really enjoyed.
Around sunset, from my location on the pier, I could see a rather large group of people gathering around the wooden dance floor, back at the entertainment complex. I also could occasionally hear the music coming from the jukebox there. I�m sure that all of this activity that I was seeing had been there the previous summer also, but, for reason I either had not noticed, or had not paid much attention to it then. I guess that this summer, I was a year older and a year wiser. In my mind, this scenario sort of reminded me of the atmosphere around the wooden decks where music was playing and people were dancing at Myrtle Beach when I was much younger, and which intrigued me so much even back then.
I did know one thing, and that was for the time being fishing had to go! I had to check out the dance floor and see what was going on over there.
As I approached the area, and saw the good time being had by all, listening to the sound of Bobby Lewis� �Tossin and Turnin� blasting from the jukebox, I knew that I was at that instant, totally and completely hooked.
I began walking for home to ditch the fishing gear, clean up, change clothes, and to get back to the dance floor as quickly as my feet would allow. The fact that there were nice looking girls from thirteen to seventeen years of age all over the place, was perhaps another incentive for the speed of my return journey.
Upon returning back to the dance floor, I found that I already knew a number of the people who were there. Also, it did not take me very long to realize that this is one place where Southport residents, Oak Island residents, and tourists, all mingled and meshed and not only were having a wonderful time, but were having a wonderful time with each other. It would have been fantastic if everyone could have forgotten his or her differences at other times of the year as well.
Although the majority of people who �hung out� at the dance floor did so after 7:00 PM in the evenings, there were a number of people who would come there during the day also. People would walk up from the beach to the dance floor and just sit under the shade of the dance floor�s roof with a cold drink and play a few songs on the jukebox
But one thing was for sure, the dance floor, Ice cream shop, miniature golf course, skating rink, and pier complex, were the only center of social activity for many miles around.
It was our day, a day of youth and carefree living. The atmosphere that permeated the entire complex allowed two things to happen without any effort at all, the making of friends, and the making of memories.
Through the course of time, some of these friends would remain, some would go their own way, and some, through the years would no longer be with us, but the memories spawned during this period of time will always be our companions and perhaps the only source of a smile to our faces in our older years.