Swap Shop

“I can cook this kind of food at home.” It didn’t take but one time to understand that Mama wasn’t having any more “southern style” cooking. So, we took her to more unusual and exceptional restaurants, such as Half Shell Oyster House, Pirate’s Cove, etc. We also made a trip back out to Tybee Island, another outing that we took Mama to, on her last trip with us. Let me articulate about the last Tybee Island trip with Mama. Unbeknownst to Mama, she almost lost three of her girls in the Atlantic Ocean. There was a hurricane brewing in the Gulf and we weren’t aware of it, or we chose to ignore it, who remembers? Teresa, Trudy, and I were in the water, no deeper that our waists, and a rip current swept us off our feet. The cur­ rent swept us along the ocean floor and almost took us out to sea. We all came back up without our swim suit bottoms. Teresa’s face had been crushed into the ocean floor (she came up looking like a mud monster), Trudy’s hip had a threeinchlong gash, and my little toe was broken. When we appeared back to the surface of the water, we all looked at each other, like, what the heck just happened. We found our swim suit bottoms, cleaned the mud from ourselves (while laughing hysteri­ cally), and left the water to check on Mama. We made several other stops that we had made with Mama – Lane’s Peach Orchard for one, where we bought fresh peaches, strawberries, and homemade pastries. So, be with family and friends while you can. Skip the job for a while. Take trips together. Visit to­ gether. Spend holidays together. Take the time now to make memories. After all, we will all take that final des­ tination trip, one day. I hope yours is a good one. Bon voyage! S 8 SOUTHERN SENIOR MAGAZINE | Summer 2021