Kathy Davenport contributing writer
Good Old
Summertime
O
ur first exposure to summer in the South was quite memorable
for this family of winter hardened Yankees. We bought our home
in 2007 but did not move here from Rhode Island until we retired
in 2012. My husband was self employed, so when business was
slow and the weather was cold up there and warm down here,
we would take off and drive down to Florence for a week or two. We were
enjoying slowly equipping and decorating our retirement home.
My siblings, who all live in Florida and Georgia, decided we should have a
family reunion here at our house in Florence. It seemed like a good idea at
the time. It would be about half way for us and our kids to come from Rhode
Island and the same for the rest of the family from the South. But, no one
will admit to whose idea it was to schedule it for the middle of August! We
knew it would be hot and maybe humid, but that week gave a whole new
meaning to both of those words!
I asked a local girl if there was a place to go swimming around here.
She said, “Well, th ere’s the river. But, you gotta watch out for the snakes
and alligators.” Ok...so no swimming unless you go to the beach! I bought
water balloons and a bunch of water cannons, figuring it would be fun to
run around outside and have a water fight. I knew where a few local grocery stores were. My sister and her boyfriend pulled their pop-up camper up
from Florida. And, we had blow-up beds and directions to local hotels. We
were all set for a week of family fun, food, and fellowship.
We arrived a day early to open the house and get everything ready. I
checked the weather report and it was calling for high humidity and temps
of about 100 degrees and up all week! I thought, Really? I don’t remember
it getting that hot in Rhode Island! But, heck, how bad can it be? We have the
AC on and it IS summer! Soon enough, the tribe started arriving - kids and
grandkids, siblings, my folks, a few aunts and uncles. There were 20 something in all. Some had a little trouble finding the house, out in the country of
South Florence. More than one GPS misguided a vehicle into a cornfield. Finally, most everyone arrived except for one son who had Army Reserve duty
and would arrive later in the week. After feeding everyone that first night, I
knew we were going to need to make another trip to the grocery store. No
problem, tomorrow was another day.
26
JULY 2016
The first hiccup was getting everyone who was staying at hotels back to
their place for the night. My uncle had driven down from Delaware with his
family and, being unfamiliar with the area, we pulled up directions to his
hotel on our GPS. For some reason, it said to go left on Irby Street instead of
right. Between fatigue from the long drive and dark roads and a wrong turn
on Irby, I think it took them 90 minutes to reach their hotel. The next day, my
sister offered to go to the grocery store and got hopelessly lost. She came
back hungry and empty handed two hours later. The next night, it rained so
hard, I thought the house would float away and my husband had to drive to
Charlotte in that torrent to pick up our son at the airport. That same night,
my poor uncle got lost again and drove around for two hours in that dark
deluge before stumbling upon his hotel. Meanwhile, it was so hot during the
day that no one even wanted to go out of the house to have a water fight.
We attempted to have our traditional softball game but called it after two
innings to retreat back into the house. It never got below 100 degrees for
five days straight. Most days, it was closer to 105! I was sure the AC unit was
going to burn out!
What to do on a hot summer day but go to the beach? Those that went
had a great time. Our son proposed to his girl and the only mishap was my
sister losing her glasses to a high wave. No matter, it was a small price to pay
for all the cool, refreshing water and sea breezes... Even though the glasses
were only two weeks old. The next day, we went to Lynches River Park for
a picnic. Every picnic table we tried to inhabit was already claimed by hungry fire ants defending their territory. We drove over by the Splash Pad and
Amanda (left) and Holland
found a table, but between the heat and humidity, flies and ants, it was a
very sorry picnic. The guys headed back to rent boats, while the girls put
lunch away and took the little ones to the Splash Pad.
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