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The sun coming up on Perdido Bay |
Oak trees on the beach? Not your picture-postcard-perfect image of the Gulf Coast, hmm? It's complicated.
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The driveway to my house on Perdido Bay |
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!