When our daughter was barely a toddler, she had her first taste of the sea as she raced toward the water, me running behind, fearing a wave would hit her. She won the race to the ocean, and sure enough, a wave knocked her down, but the next day, she was back in the water. She became a nationally ranked swimmer at sixteen, but I like to think her love of the water began that first trip to the Pine Knoll Shores 26 years ago. Until she was adult, we took beach trips with extended family, including the “grumps” as we called my wife’s parents, and her brother and his wife and their daughters and then later, all three girls had a friend with them. It took a lot of bedrooms. After years of the Crystal Coast, we rented an amazing variety of beach houses at Wrightsville, where I spent my childhood summers.
When my daughter was four and same age as my grandson, and again the next year, we were in Pine Knoll Shores, and fell in love with Beaufort and Morehead city. The past four years, since we became grandparents, we have had trips without any children or family to Pine Knoll Shores, always in September or April, and Beaufort is still a beacon for us, and a way to step back in time.
This September, we spent two full weeks at Pine Knoll Shores, and the last half of the trip my daughter and curious grandson joined us. It was the sweetest and dearest vacation I can remember as an adult. We were at the same exact beach where I had held my daughter’s hand at age four in the water, and there, 26 years later, I was holding another precious little hand, being protective of waves that might crash over a wee head. The thoughts of my circle of live were overwhelming, spending time with him. He and I spent so much time in the water, our hands became like prunes.
The joy of being with my little family, and the laid-back attitude and child-like wonder of a four-year old made the trip quite an adventure. We spent hours on the beach collecting shells just after the wild hurricane waves had passed, and he found a huge conch the first morning he was there. We covered the same delightful North Carolina Aquarium with him that we visited when she was four, and we ate at the “Sanitary Restaurant,” where she played outside so many seasons ago, and where my grandson, likewise, wanted to play and watch the boat activity. The “Sanitary” has a candy shop at the exit, and my daughter bought and hoarded several of her favorite candies from her tween and teen years. I think we all become a little child- like at the coast. We sat outside on the dock in Beaufort, watching boats of all sizes and hearing several languages and accents. My grandson took a liking to “Blackbeard,” and the research being done on the sunken ship of “Blackbeard,” named the “Queen Anne’s Revenge.” There are videos of the recent raising of her 18th century anchor and some incredible artifacts brought up from the ship on display at the charming Maritime Museum. We ate lunch at a new wine shop café called “Queen Anne’s Revenge,” and my grandson loved the sophisticated children’s menu ordering pasta with Parmesan, and asking our server for a table under the large portrait of “Blackbeard.” He was just so alive with pirate questions and so happy with the moment overlooking the sun reflecting off the water.
There are moments of clarity in the sweetness of September that make living in the moment magical. The circle of life as a grandparent is so astounding, and makes my life richer and fuller, as does the serenity, salinity and rage of the ocean which draws me back again, and again.
