Ferocious waves and a meddlesome woman

After much discussion over who would ride in what car, we arrived at the beach rental house near St. Augustine. There are 18 of us. Two grandparents, 7 parents and 9 children from my nephew 13 to Girl almost 3. A brave undertaking. Especially for my dad and his wife, who is still getting to know us. It is always a wonderful idea to get together - all of us. Yet, what is it about siblings - grown adults who suddenly become children again around each other? It is an interesting phenomenom. One which I don't wish to ponder overmuch.

The beach house is great. Long deck off the back of the house overlooking the ocean, which here is a grey blue. Lots of comfortable chairs lining the deck. Shells scattered across the beach stretching for miles. The waves are tremendous. My nephew is in heaven for a while, but the waves are so ferocious that he is told to come in. There is a strong current going south, and waves tumble one right after the other. And from multiple directions. The kids are all at the shoreline in life jackets and the strength of the waves even at the edge of the water is a force to be reckoned with.

I had just gotten Girl down to the beach, set us up in chairs and a woman from the rental house next door came rushing over bearing a large, dead CRAB! Her companion accompanied her wielding a camcorder. The woman got about 2 feet from us, her arm outstretched, the dead crab's claws dangling and I wanted to STRANGLE her. Instead, I loudly stated that we had an issue with that particular object and that we were not interested. The woman, at first taken aback by my abruptness, then proceeds to gasp and stammer and before retreating says...Oh, I was just bitten in the ocean myself!! At which point I wanted to scream and throttle her, but serenity seemed in order. Girl seemed to take it in stride and it seems we have put the crab incident behind us. I still haven't figured out exactly what the woman was trying to do. Was she trying to see if she could scare a little girl? Get it on videotape? Capture a mother's nervous breakdown? I'm sure I will never know. It seems that Girl is destined to have crabs in her life and both of us to suffer fools.

	Tweet