A Sense of Place

Every Sunday as a kid it was always waking up, ready to start a day of adventure. Bright and early, waking up before the sun hits high noon, having coolers packed with drinks for the adults and kids. Bringing hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, chips, watermelon. Charcoals for a fire pit, matches, towels, football, Frisbee, horseshoes, corn hole, games that occupied the day. Heading out to our beach, the church with no walls, as my dad would call it, because every Sunday morning we were faithfully at the South Lido Beach. No shoes, bathing suits, and most likely forgetting sunscreen, we would head out for a day of unlimited fun. 

Arriving no later than 10am, unloading the trucks, pulling our days worth of cargo to our spot under the trees, then firing up the grill. Parents would be cooking, drinking, playing some horse shoes, while us kids would be getting into something, going off into our own world. Grabbing our toys and heading to the water. We would dig holes and make castles out of sand, playing house on the oceanfront. Build castles almost taller than our four-foot selves, pretending to be the kings or queens, using water noodles as swords casting each other down. Building bunkers in the sand while using our water guns as if we were at war with one another. 

There were endless possibilities of places we were on those days in our minds. All in all we were just at the beach. A simple beach. Trees, a playground, sand, water, family, friends. To us, we were all over the world, we were in different eras, places, times, grabbing the football, playing for the Tampa Bay Bucs or Atlanta Falcons, or famous architects building forts in the pine needled woods, pretending we were stranded on a deserted island.

As we got older, or as I got older, unfortunately those fantasies, that imagination, just sailed off as the boats do at sea. Now when I wake up and head out to South Lido, it’s to get a tan, or barbecue, and just hang out with friends. No more castles, forts, being in the NFL, or captain of a ship. It’s going to the beach doing what you’re expected to do. But also just tanning or barbecues and hanging out is what is fun though, is what I wake up before high noon to do, and I’m still having an adventure like “where do I park my truck? I wonder how far I’ll have to walk, what will the crowd be like?” These in themselves are adventures. The beach, my beach, South Lido Bay, will always hold many, many memories, many adventures, fun times. The ocean was always an escape, just floating in that Gulf. The sand in my toes was always the comfort I needed, the sun rays beaming the only energy needed, and family and friends were the best company.

-Caroline Catarzi