On the Beach, Up a Hill, and Under the Oaks

The sun coming up on Perdido Bay

Dear Reader,

Oak trees on the beach? Not your picture-postcard-perfect image of the Gulf Coast, hmm?  It's complicated.

My home is on the waterfront. Perdido Bay. Lucky me! It sets on a gentle rise, under big beautiful oak trees! Lucky me, again, right?! This place that my "Nana"  called "Magnolia Gardens" (Yes Magnolia trees grow along the bay too) has been our family port and anchor for sixty years. No matter where we go or how long we are gone, it has always been our family home. It's the place where even Nana's great great grandchildren know they are home.  It's the place of family and stories.  Thrilling stories of pirates, alligators, dolphins, sharks, sea creatures, ghosts, swamp things, hurricanes, building, business, buried treasure, fine furniture, antiques, china and church all take their place in the history of our home and family.

The driveway to my house on Perdido Bay

Choosing this place on Perdido Bay was one of the wisest decisions my grandmother, "Nana",  ever made for our family, way back when my hair was in little blond pigtails, before it went brown, then gray, then back blond again.  As I walk to the beach through the woods of my home, or just look out my window, I see "Nana" and  "PawPaw" everywhere. She chose the land and built the house. He planted all the Camellias that bloom and brighten our Winter. Yet, I inherited so much more than this pretty little spot on earth. They left me a wealthy woman, rich with the treasure of a wonderful life.

The decisions we make, every day, affect our children for the rest of their lives, their children's lives, and their grandchildren's lives. Our work ethic, integrity, kindness, generosity and a million other qualities we choose for ourselves every day teach our children something - one way or another. They pass them on to generations that follow. Like choosing the setting and soil on which to build a house and make it beautiful, all the choices we make create an environment and family culture that our children can thrive in and always come back to, if just to remember who they are.

So today, as I walk south, barefoot, in the tan colored sand along Perdido Bay, the morning sun reflects off of the condominiums stretching across the Key and Orange Beach, and I am reminded that none of those existed when I was a girl.  That beautiful white Gulf beach seemed like my personal sandbox, back then,  and I used to wish my  home was right there  next to the emerald green Gulf water with my "Granny" who lived there, instead of on the Bay with ny"Nana." That strip of beach, just a few minutes down stream, is still a great, and exciting place to live.  How grateful I am now, however, that I live here on Perdido Bay, where I can have a boat dock and enjoy the best of both worlds, better protected from high wind and high water events, and shaded in the Summer by the giant oaks and spanish moss that drip with charm. Life is layered and full of rich texture here along the Gulf Coast.  Life IS more than a beach. It's a whole lot of wonder, adventure of many other things that go with it!

Thanks for reading!
"Rae"


AUTHOR'S NOTE:  Perdido is a Spanish word that means "lost." So Perdido Bay means  "Lost Bay." Yes, there is a story that goes with that name. Are you kidding me? We got a story for everything! And everything has a name!