Isle of Palms (Continued)
We're not a bunch of pansies either. We're actually a pretty courageous bunch, usually unafraid of anything that Mother Nature slings our way. Hurricanes? Big deal. This may sound crazy but for some peculiar reason we need to, no, we have to stand in front of the angry ocean right before a storm hits. When I was little Doc would say, Anna? Let's go have a look at what the Atlantic is up to before the eye hits. We would stand on a sand dune and inhale enough salt to elevate our blood pressure. It was good for us. Evacuations? We usually stayed at home until Hugo. Then everybody threw up their arms and said, just why did we pay these hefty insurance premiums in the first place? If the hurricane was a real monster, we just packed up our precious belongings and the photographs and got out of town. We'd let the old storm have her way for a day or two and then we cleaned up her mess. Afterward, we'd rock away the nights on each other's porches, laughing and telling stories about hurricanes for a million years.
Islanders recognize something kindred in each other. Shoot, if I get a tourist in my chair and she says she's from North Carolina I handle her one way . . . like a Yankee, but don't let's go around telling that, okay? But if she tells me that she lives in Wrightsville Beach, well, then she gets treated like an old friend.
Beach people love life harder than anybody else. We do! We have a tendency to be, well, slightly excessive in our behavior. You usually won't see us eat one boiled peanut, drink one beer, tell one joke or get just a little bit of sun. So if you tell me you're from a beach, I know who you are. Except if you're from California where everything wiggles. See what I mean? Hurricanes don't ruffle me, but earthquakes? Not me, sugar.
People who live on islands are generally unpretentious too. This is a quality that is greatly overlooked and undervalued by others. Look at all those people who live in New York. They have outfits for everything! They have jogging clothes which aren't the same as their workout clothes which aren't the same as their weekend clothes and, Lord have mercy on us, every stitch they own is black! Shoot! They probably blow out their hair to go around the corner to buy a newspaper!
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