Where do I begin?
First of all, I have always loved the beach. I am the child of a beach bunny who gets so brown in the sun after a few hours that she no longer looks Caucasian. We always went to St. Pete for spring break, Daytona Beach and Panama City Beach for about a month every summer, and then we'd stay at The Diplomat in Hollywood, FL, for the week following Christmas. Mom would take an array of formal gowns to wear to events in Miami Beach - The Supremes at The Fontainbleu on New Year's Eve, etc.
Just the sight of the beach and the Gulf brings tears to my eyes. My husband, who was born in Wisconsin and never experienced anything but the beautiful lakes up there, fell in love with the Gulf Coast as a student at Tulane. When we lived in South Carolina, we always went to Hilton Head, Kiawah, Isle of Palms, The Cloister, or Amelia Island Plantation, and kept doing that when we moved to Georgia. We noticed that everyone here took their beach vacations on the Panhandle. So we decided we'd try it. We were immediately hooked. Not to offend anyone, but there's no comparison between Atlantic beaches and the beaches on the Florida Panhandle.
We started rented condos at Sandestin. But after two summers in a row when the pool had to be closed for several 24-hour periods because a baby had pooped in the pool, we decided to rent a house with a pool. Randomly we ended up renting a house with a pool in Seagrove. We loved it! It was so great not to have to fight to get a chair by the pool, not to have to pack up to go to the beach/pool because we could just step out the door.
That's when "The Dream" started. We started looking at property, didn't find any house with a kitchen I liked, and made the crazy decision to build.
We love our home in Seagrove. It is such an oasis of relaxation for us. Yes, it adds a dimension of responsibility to our to-do list in that we have two houses to maintain. But it's worth it. The freedom from the clutter of the things at our main house just simplifies our experience at the beach house. Even when the weather is bad, just to sit on the sofa and look out at the Gulf brings tears to our eyes.
I rambled. Sorry. The bottom line is that I guess you'd say that our beach house is our stress relief and source of sanity from the pressures of life back in our world of work back home. Moreover, the beauty of nature just comforts us and reinforces our belief in God.
) It's as if those spray planes are hosing Valium into the air we breathe. And if I have an occasional night of insomnia, I take my own virtual tour of Conch Out, from the cozy bed down to the great room's sunshine and coffee, then out onto the beach. The only problem is that I seldom stay awake long enough for the beach part. Who needs drugs? (Please don't answer that last question.)
