Matthew-Down at the Beach

The Sky

I completely forgot about this poem, that I wrote back in May, here it is...


The Sky
By Aaron Kane

You are a painting by a magnificent artist,
with colors blue, and white.
You are like an umbrella,
shielding us from the sun’s harsh light.

You change as much as a beach after a storm!
In the morning, you are full of glorious beauty,
like a fiery rainbow of reds and purples.
You gleam of radiant splendor!

In daylight you change day by day!
Some days, you are like the Caribbean Sea,
blue and swirly white.
Others you are like a crowd of gray snowmen.

Every day you are in a different mood.
When you are sad, you cry teardrops of rain,
when you are mad,
you release the sun’s burning wrath!

The clouds are fluffy pillows of weightless cotton,
floating effortlessly in the sky.
I can lie in the grass for hours,
watching their endless journey.

Though mankind has littered you,
with smoke and simmering ash,
you still keep us safe from the cold and fiery heat!
Sky, you are truly a marvelous wonder!

Nights in Rodanthe

Angie wrote this, and it pretty much sums up our vacation to the Outer Banks this year.


Sorry folks... no Richard Gere or Diane Lane in this version of the story..

We traveled to Hatteras Island, NC for our family vacation this year (19 of us!) and stayed in the seaside village of Rodanthe/Waves/Salvo. Time together as a family is always special.. it's rare to have everyone in the same place at the same time. That is the best part of the story!!

To fill you in on the rest: We had only 2 days of decent weather. We arrived late Saturday. Sunday was gorgeous although a bit breezy.. beach worked out great! Monday, weather began its downward spiral.. wind and rain- each day a little worse than the one before it. Turns out a little storm system they call a Northeaster decided to pay us a visit (reference Diane Lane in 'The Perfect Storm' with George Clooney for this part of the story.... Ok. A little exaggeration.. but that's what it felt like to us!!!). Howling winds and sand that felt like bullets grazing your skin.. rain and storms and tidal flooding.. The roads leading into Hatteras Island were closed down so we couldn't leave if we wanted to.. It was quite depressing.

In the midst of all this - we decide to battle the weather, get out of the house, and take a drive north into Nags Head for dinner (this is before the road closures). We under-estimate the distance.. so it was a 40 min. trip each way for a dinner at Outback (what can I say.. we had a cheese fry craving...). From the beginning it was a disaster.. It was the only time we ate out the entire trip and we were under serviced and over charged and felt like such a waste... Whatever.. chalk it up to an unlucky experience.. we all have those. We go on our (un)merry way.. Just want to get home. Kids are fried.. we are grumpy. So what happens?? We get a $170 speeding ticket on the way home (keep in mind - it is 930pm.. no one on the road.. not a headlight in sight..we are going 69 in a 55.. plus we were traveling over a bridge.. where are they clocking you by radar on a bridge with no shoulder that is 3/4 mile long????). Very depressed at this point...

The next few days are filled with sleeping, tv, playing board games.. I had a blast with this. Brett hates anything but Trivial Pursuit so he read lots of books.. Loser ;) The rest of us 'kids' had fun with monopoly, scrabble, clue, uno, chess, you name it.. Quality time I guess. During the non-rainy times we enjoyed the pool (thank you mom for getting it heated!!!!!) and the hot tub. We cooked a lot, ate a lot, drank a little.. more coffee than alcohol for me though... needed the caffeine to survive the dreariness and keep up with the kids (did I mention there were 4 kids under 3 in this house??! Plus a 5 yr old and twin 9 year olds... crazy insane).

So we managed to hold down the fort during the nasty weather... Thursday rolls around and suddenly the winds calm and the sun peaks out. Never have you seen 19 people gear up and rush down to the sand to take advantage of the change in weather so quickly.. we were running out of time to enjoy what we came here for- the beach!!!! The waters were still extremely rough but you could enjoy the sand and the sound of the roaring surf. We set up our chairs, umbrellas, toys, coolers, and the multitude of gear needed to survive the afternoon with all the kids... We set up far back from the surf break because it was so rough. I am all cozy in my beach chair.. Matthew's playing with his dump truck and shovels, Ava is sitting on a beach blanket eating goldfish crackers, Kevin is surf fishing, everyone else is either soaking up the sun or frolicking in surf.. no one venturing too far due to the rip currents.. OUT OF NOWHERE a rogue wave comes up and attacks us. I SWEAR I am NOT exaggerating this point. We are probably 50 yards back from the edge of the water. Sitting there for 10-15 minutes and not a droplet of water creeping anywhere near us.. and this mini-tsunami decides to take over our camp. I was sitting in a chair , had only enough time to grab Ava- who was sitting in front of me and this wall off water came over us. My head managed to stay above the water but it went over Ava completely and Matthew was tossed about by the wave... thankfully Brett was close enough to grab him. Any standing adults were knocked off their feet and it sucked away all our bags, toys, buckets of fishing gear... We managed to recoup most of our belongings but lost several items in the surf. Four cameras were ruined. Matthew cried over his lost sunglasses that the 'ocean ate'... What a scare!! It seriously could have 'ate' one of the babies.. it was that strong. Scary afternoon...

We decide to try for fresh seafood that evening.. after all - you are on the coast, you should be able to gets shrimp, scallops, fish, and crabs for a seafood night, right? Whatever your little tummy desires.. the ocean's right there in your backyard. Yeah. Ok. Right. No restaurant or seafood market on the island had anything. Notta. Zip. Zero. Not a crab to be picked anywhere. Waters had been too rough all week long for the boats to go out.. No seafood at the beach. Just icing on the cake at this point... A great big thank you to mother nature.

Friday was better.. weather was nice. We got to enjoy the beach before heading home on Saturday.

But, despite the bad restaurant experience, traffic fine, horrible weather, rogue wave, lost/ruined belongings, and lack of seafood... it was our family trip. And now there are memories to savor and stories to be told....

the end.

The Many Faces of Ava

Publications

My poem, Where I'm From is being published in 3 books, so far, by the International Library of Poetry, White Oak Press, and Noble House(New York~London~Paris). It will also be put on CD by the International Library of Poetry. Where I'm From, Nature's Melody, and An Ode to Szechuan Chicken will be published in Teen Ink.