Like the sinking boat we watched from our ocean front condo the first night we arrived in Florida for Spring Break.
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| The people stayed with the boat until it was towed. It was completely dark before the tow boat came. The people never left their ship--even when there was only a tiny bit of it left to sit on. |
Monte had us watch it like TV.
The drunk twenty-something dude named Chandler who stumbled onto the grassy area by our condo's pool, set his beer down and then stood, both arms straight out in front of him for a longish period of time. Several twenty-something dudes from a balcony near by started hollering,
"Chandler, no! No, Chandler! You will NOT have a place to sleep tonight if you do it! No, Chandler! You can't stay here if you do it!"
Monte, Ellie and I all looked at each other wondering
if we were going to watch Chandler die
or be horribly maimed.
We didn't dare move.
The boat was still sinking.
After a ridiculously long time, Chandler finally moved, grabbed his beer and slurred loudly to the balcony of guys something about crab grass.
Yeah, that crab grass,
THAT'S what was going to hurt you,
Chandler.
Monte even felt a hint of nostalgia when we saw an old man walking on the beach in a thong bathing suit.
We thought he was naked at first because of his ample belly.
Note to anyone contemplating a thong bathing suit:
DON'T.
"You won't have a place to sleep tonight if you do it!"
Other than the drunk Chandler issue the first night, we did NOT experience ANYTHING like the college madhouse of our Spring Break 2018.
Thank the good Lord!
Our condo was filled with older people and families.
Each floor of our building had a laundry room.
Monte walked by one day and noticed a pair of granny panties that had been dropped by the laundry room door.
His reaction was compassion for the poor woman who had to discover her drawers were being seen by everyone on the 2nd floor.
We both commented that if that discovery had been made last year in our hotel madhouse, it would've meant something ENTIRELY DIFFERENT and we would've reported it to the security guards.
What a lovely, fantastic, incredible
difference a year and new location makes.
We thoroughly enjoyed the warm sunny weather,
the beach and reading most of the day.
In the morning, Monte and I liked to sit on the balcony and watch the birds.
There was one noisy bird who sat on the globe of a light from the pool patio squawking to let the big black birds know that they were not welcome.
The noisy bird was much smaller than the black birds and his tail stood straight up, near his head, as if he was always in a salute/attention position.
We named him Sentinel.
After some research,
we think he was a mockingbird.
He had no problem dive bombing and chasing out of his territory any black bird who dared to come near the pool area.
Their flying capabilities was Top Gun at its best.
Every day it was the same thing,
the chasing,
dive bombing,
squawking,
defending,
always on guard.
It seemed as if the mockingbird won each day,
successful in keeping the black birds at bay
yet not deterring them to try again as soon as the sun came up.
It was fascinating
and great entertainment for us.
What a great reminder that size doesn't matter
when it comes to defending our territory.
While we were watching them one afternoon, we saw a flock of colorful birds fly overhead and we heard someone say they were wild parakeets.
Monte was sitting on the balcony alone when he saw a seagull fly close by with an enormous muffin in its beak.
What was this place where colorful parakeets flew free??
Monte was sitting on the balcony alone when he saw a seagull fly close by with an enormous muffin in its beak.
No less than the entire population of seagulls in Florida was hot on his trail behind him.
Not only did we get some much needed down time, but a week at the beach showed us:
to not jump ship, but to fully wait out the rescue,
surround ourselves with friends who will talk us out of dumb decisions,
to never wear a thong bathing suit,
and to STAND OUR GROUND,
aware of what wants to steal, kill and destroy,
not so that we live in fear, but so we can live life to the fullest.
(John 10:10)
