#2,022 The Beaches Are Open.
Is Jaws a religious experience for any families outside of mine? Daddy and Clark can quote the entire movie beginning to end (“It’s a beautiful day, the beaches are open and people are having a wonderful time. Amity, as you know, means “friendship.”) they watch it every single beach trip, and as the movie is set on the 4th of July, it feels incredibly Rasberry of me to spend the holiday in Orange Beach with my parents. I don’t think I’ve been here on the 4th since junior high! We celebrated by spending every waking moment in the sun and salty air, taking the boat for the 30 mile trip to Sand Island (or, Sand Mountain as we call it), my favorite piece of sandy land from my childhood where the water looks Caribbean and the crowds don’t venture. It’s completely secluded and so gorgeous and it makes me happy that Ben has gotten to come with me a few times in the decade we’ve been together.
Daddy gave us a lesson on the island’s history as a conservatory for the Confederate army in the Civil War:
And then after a while we made the haul back to OB.
Where we read by the pool until dinner time, then Ben grilled us burgers from the Knight Butcher with fresh vegetables. We had dinner on the balcony with mama and daddy and watched the sky explode all around us.
It felt pretty dang American today.
