Tourists, Traffic, Beach, & Homesickness

I'm still surprised with myself and how happy I am in this tiny mountain town. But, as a friend of mine put it, I can grow here, inside and out. Everything is green now, just like I knew it would be, and there are more bugs than I can put names to.

However....

None of that can detract from the sheer joy I feel about going home for a week. I am literally counting down the days, like a kid before Christmas. And the next 25 days are going to feel like forever, just like they did waiting for those presents under the tree.

Of course, me being me, I've already got this ridiculous itenerary in my head from the time I leave until I get back. Knowing it's ridiculous hasn't stopped me from planning it though. I know that as soon as I get there, all my planning will go out the window, but something in my genetic makeup won't allow me to NOT plan, so there you have it.

Ahhh, the feel of hot sand under my feet, cold, salty ocean waves breaking endlessly on the shore, tourists in neon speedos and too-short trunks trying valiantly to get out past the breakers on their inflatable rafts bought just that morning from Wings...the seagulls swooping and pooping, the kids screaming, dogs barking, the occasional low rumble of an engine as the lifegaurds cruise by on their 4-wheelers...

All of those things are integral to a summer on the Outer Banks, and every summer memory I have ties into each of those things. I gaurantee you that the people from the beach who are reading this now can see exactly what I see, and hear and taste and smell it too. It's just something that, once it's in your veins, there's no escaping it. You could move to Alaska for twenty years and still all it would take is closing your eyes, and taking a deep breath, imagining it heavy with the smell of ocean and traffic and sunscreen and hot pavement...

It really takes you away. :)

Okay, enough rambling, I have to go and make a list of everything I want to take. I mean, c'mon, I've only 25 MORE DAYS!!!!! Haha, just kidding...sort of. ;)

Today's song:
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