Friday, March 21, 2008

Minor Waterfront Living Inconveniences

Okay, okay, I had lots of work to catch up on, but back by popular demand, the Boomer Chick is back to provide you with endless dribble and fascinating stories of my boomer chick life living in a waterfront condo on the south end of an island with the only access off this island being a causeway that sometimes is easy to get off of, sometimes not, depending on whether it's too windy for the road workers to delay us from leaving their wonderful community. This picture I'm showing you is the only picture I have of this causeway which doesn't show you too much of the bridgework itself, but it does show you the lovely views out the car window.

I promise, promise I'll download my pictures soon...this one I had on my hard drive before the move.

Anyway, let me tell you how this all began...

My daughter rented us this waterfront condo on an island, right? I was working offline and online and I just said, "If it feels right, get it." For the first time in thirty years, my daughter has shown me what an adult she really is.

The place is beautiful beyond words, but to a Boomer Chick, I do have a few minor inconveniences. I don't mean to complain at all, but I thought I'd share with you three minor inconveniences for now and save you the agony of reading more later.

Minor Inconvenience #1:

I have a Stair Master on each floor. Okay, not the real thing but who needs the real thing when you have 14 steps going up to the main floor and another 14 steps going to the second floor which is where your bedrooms are. Wouldn't be a terrible thing if you weren't a 2-pack smoker. I'm happy to say when I first saw this place and first made my trek up the two flights of stairs, I vowed to cut back (I'll quit totally one day) to one pack and not only that in order to help me cut back my smoking intake by half, I would not smoke inside the house. I'm happy to say that we have been here almost a month and I have kept those promises. I'm saving money, saving my life and I am now the proud owner of a smoke-free living environment.

Minor Inconvenience #2:

If you hate wind, you'll hate it here. We live yards from the water. Oh, sure, it's the most beautiful thing in the world to see boats float by your front yard and listen to the gulls and watch the different bird species land on your own dock, but there is a minor inconvenience with this I hadn't counted on. Have you ever lived through a hurricane where your breath was sucked right outta you once you stepped out the door? Well, that's the way it is here almost every day. I'm hoping because it's the windiest month of the year, it will calm down soon, but I'm not seeing any let up.

Yesterday, in fact, I had to take my daughter to the emergency room for an eye ailment that won't go away (more on that later) and we come back and you would think Katrina came back for an encore appearance. The beautiful hutch I had gotten for a steal was on its back, the glass in the doors broken. The lawn mower had been blown from one end of the carport to the other, my wind chimes are nowhere to be found and the siding has come up and is lying in the thrush across the street.

Now, I'm thinking...if this is what happens during a March wind, what's going to happen during a hurricane? I was talking to one of my co-workers who lives over here on the island and she says, "Oh, you'll be fine because you're on stilts, but your cars won't be. Main Street (which is the street that separates the water from us) will be under water and you can watch ducks float by." So encouraging that woman.

Minor Inconvenience #3:

I'll keep it to three minor inconveniences because frankly this place is paradise despite these inconveniences but I'm sure I'll find more as time goes on. My third minor inconvenience is closely related to #2. If there was a hurricane, and the causeway gets closed off (which is the only connection we have to the rest of civilization), we're here for good. I was thinking about buying a blow-up boat and three life preservers. Just in case you know.

Living on the water is some people's dream. I'm sure I'll have quite a few stories that will help them see that some dreams just aren't what they're cracked up to be. I still say give me the mountains anytime, but I will say this. You haven't lived until you've seen the sunset over the water out your balcony. And...when the wind isn't blowing, the area has got to be as close to paradise as you can get. I'll let you know as time goes on.

Island Girl

Technorati Tags:
, , , ,