Conversations heard at the beach

My lazy, crazy summer continues. I owe you all a post of the misery that is the status of my supposed fancy new job- but do you ever find that you just don't want to talk about something anymore (or definitely type out all of your mixed up feelings about it!). But I promise that will be the topic that is conquered soon.

First a trip to the beach.....

I'm not a huge beach goer. I'm not really a sun worshipper (although I have found more enjoyment over the last few years) and this isn't that surprising if you know me well enough to know the fairness of my skin, and my propensity to burn:( I loved the beach as a kid, what kid doesn't, right. I live moderately close to beaches- 45 minutes or so. I hate packing up all the gear that you will need, I hate sitting in traffic, I hate sand in your shoes or stuck all over your body. I especially hate having black blotchy marks all over my hands and legs courtesy of deadly combination of sun tan lotion and an US Weekly. (does this happen to anyone else?)

My family are big beach goers, especially my mom and my sister. In the summer, my sister and I look like we could be two different races based on the level of our tans. I always attribute the others love for the beach over mine due to how our childhood summers were spent. You see, in my family we measure time BH or AH; Before Helen and After Helen. I am the much youngest in my family and in some ways my siblings had very different experiences then I did. My grandfather owned a chain of Five and Dime stores, and the last one that they owned was at Hampton Beach in New Hampshire. My parents would spend every summer living there with my grandmother, working at the store and my siblings frolicked on the beach. The store was sold the summer before I was born. As a kid, I spent every day (of the week) at day camp in the local state forest. Spending every summer from age 5-18, then 20-23 at this camp made a big impact on my life and I wouldn't trade it for anything. My beach experiences were contained to weekend jaunts an occasional rental cottage.

Needless to say, my mom and sister love to go off to the beach and I am always welcome. I'm not usually interested for many of the reasons that I listed above. This past week I decided to make my once a summer pilgrimage with them. All of the things listed above happened and it was also a pretty windy/cloudy day.

We ended up sitting fairly close to some others who were behind us. Two loud mouthed blonds....very quickly I ascertained at least one was a teacher. Ahh....my people, but by what she was saying she's the kind who gives the rest of us a bad name. Now, I admit I really enjoy listening to other people's conversations (beware if you're around me), but these two gave you no choice but to listen. My sister and I rolled our eyes at each other many times. They were reading and discussing all sorts of pop culture information, which ordinarily I would have been fine with but their People magazines were months old- not acceptable.

A great discussion ensued about the Sandra Bullock cover with her new cherub Louis. One of the ladies asked the other, "what country did she adopt him from?". I'm not kidding- I almost fell out of my chair. Louisiana is a lovely country....

Now there is a punch line to the story- email me or Facebook if you want to hear it!