It All sounds Great....but

Ah..the beach! A vacation in the sun with the added benefit of the surf. The best thing about a beach vacation is the thought. Much like spending an afternoon at the zoo which sounds like a good time and which I have come to realize I hate, the beach is another of those things that sounds so much better when talking about it.

Sand, heat and the ocean just sounds like a good time but in reality, sand in my swimsuit, the heat and the idea of wading into an ocean full of wiggling, crawling swimming critters frightens me into a screaming mass of nerves. A seaweed brushes against my leg and I'm high stepping it toward the beach screeching at the top of my lungs. To make matters worse is to be at a beach where the water is murky and muddy looking. Being unable to see what is in the water isn't something I want to spend time in.

Poor Carrie..she was so excited to go to the beach. We had to drive right down to the waters edge as soon as we got into Biloxi. She waded into the water; I gingerly followed. I allowed her a few minutes in the water and then coaxed her with promises of pool time as soon as we checked into the hotel. There I found other adults with their children that felt the same way about the beach. We never went back.

We spend the next three days in and out of that beautiful pool. The water was clear and temperate. I let her play for hours in the water..anything as long as we didn't have to go back to the beach.

We shopped at a little beach mall and much to my surprise, Carrie purchased some hermit crabs complete with their own condo. Initially I talked her out of buying them but her Poppy took her back later and returned with two of the spider like critters.

I'm terrified of anything that looks like a spider and now I'm sharing my room with two of these creatures in a hot pink metal cage. Immediately I made up some firm rules. The critters were to be kept  in their cage with the top firmly in place.

Early the next morning as I was packing, Carrie and her Poppy took the critters onto the balcony from our room and decided to let them out to play. One disappears! I am frantic and frightened. The search was on. I peeked across to the balcony to the right and then to the one on the left. Not finding it, I caught the elevator to the ground floor and rushed outside to look on the ground beneath the balcony. The critter has disappeared and Carrie is heartbroken. Her Poppy promises to go back to the store and get another after he returns from gassing up his truck. I resume packing our belongings as we are leaving as soon as he returns.

The patio door from the balcony has been left open a few inches and suddenly I hear Carrie screaming "He's back ..he's back Nana!" Turning to see where she was pointing, the critter was crawling back into the room across the threshold. As I start backing away, I'm screaming at Carrie to get it and get it back into it's cage. This vacation may be the cause of my nervous breakdown.

Carrie called her Poppy on the phone to tell him the good news and soon we were all on our way to New Orleans with her critters safely ensconced in their bright pink "condo".

We are now home and Carrie has her critters in an aquarium now. Soft yellow sand covers the floor of that aquarium, a plastic pool holds water to keep the sponge wet and their food rests atop the grains of yellow sand. I encouraged Carrie to keep them at her house and she was happy to take them home with her.

Next year at this time a beach vacation will again sound like a good idea. Maybe we'll just go to a motel here in town and entertain ourselves in their pool. Think of the time saved on the road getting to a pool that is 4 hrs away. I don't really need a beach do I?