Sunday in Daytona With Bob

Today was our first full day in Daytona. Bob woke me up just before 7 to watch the sun rise over the Atlantic but I was so tired, I could not rouse myself enough to get up to see it. I ended up waking up close to 9, showering, slathering on some sun screen, and taking my coffee on the patio in order to take in the ocean in all its splendor. I ended up eating breakfast out there too. It was awesome. The air smelled of salt, sand, and sun tan lotion.

As I ate my breakfast, I reflected on a dream I’d had overnight. It was completely random and weird, as dreams can be. I dreamt I was married to a man I knew a long time ago named Kane. Except once we got married, we never consummated our marriage nor did we live together. For four years. I had wedding rings and remember saying vows but after that, we went our separate ways. In my dream, I asked Kane why we had even married and he said it was due to parental pressure. I also knew he was in love with another woman named Carrie. (In real life, Kane is married to Carrie.) So I was living my life alone but still married. Then a man I knew from church came to me and told me his wife had died the day before, leaving him to raise their four children alone. I cried with him and told him I’d be there for him for whatever he needed. In a not so coincidental turn of events, he told me he had been admiring me for a while and he’d like to pursue me and marry me. And he did just that. But I was conflicted for I was a married woman who though I was not living with my husband, nonetheless took my vows seriously. The whole rest of the dream was about this man pursuing me, me loving it and yet feeling very guilty and conflicted because of my sham of a marriage. I woke up without resolution. Odd, no.

Anyway, after breakfast I decided to take a walk down the road our motel is on. I walked about half a mile when I came across a drive-in church. Yes, a drive-in church. Church was in session, so I stopped in and joined part of the congregation in an air conditioned meeting room. The pews were lawn chairs and most of the people in that room were retirees. During the sermon, one guy even clipped his fingernails. That was a little distracting. Otherwise, the pastor gave a sermon, we sang songs, and we took communion, and gave tithes and offerings. Other than the fact that most of the congregation was sitting in their cars, it was just like church. It was pretty cool. The people were super friendly and it was extremely casual, just like you might expect a church near the beach to be.

After church I walked some more and found a fun souvenir store. I picked up some things to bring back as thank yous to the people who helped make our vacation possible. I got a couple of wind chimes, some refrigerator magnets, and other knick knack type things. I walked back to the motel to see if Bob was awake yet. He had been having a rough morning due to extreme pain and I thought it best if he slept as long as he could. He was awake and showering when I got back to the room, though. I had been gone almost 2 ½ hours and it was lunch time. I made us both sandwiches and chips which we ate on the terrace by the ocean. When near the ocean, you must eat every meal by the ocean.

After lunch we decided to walk the beach a bit. It was hard for Bob because the tide was high and the sand was not very stable where we were walking but he did pretty well, at least for a little while. We got to a point where he could go no further so I told him to wait where he was and I would go get the car and drive down the beach to meet him. It would have been fabulous except the tide was so high, they weren’t letting cars drive on the beach at that time. Thankfully, the lifeguard heard my plea and let me drive down to get Bob. I picked him up and drove him back to the motel. Once he was settled comfortably into a lounge chair, I went down to frolic in the surf. The water was cold but the day was warm and the cool water felt good. I tried to wade far into the waves, but they were big and frightening so I chickened out and stayed in the shallower, safer end of the ocean.

After swimming a bit, I decided to go for a walk. I walked a mile and a half down the beach and them back. By the time I got back to the motel my leg muscles were burning. Walking on sand gives you quite the workout. I decided to swim a bit more and then went to join Bob in a lounge by the pool. He was sitting exposed in the sun without sunscreen. I had sunscreen on but had been outside the entire day. I picked up a book and started to read and Bob decided to go in and watch a football game. I stayed outside until I could feel my skin heating up. I came in and showered and saw that I had the start of a sunburn. Not too bad of one, but enough that it would tingle and hurt overnight.

Once I showered, Bob thought it would be fun to go for a drive. So we hopped in the Cruiser and off we went. We ended up in Ponce Inlet and found a roadside bar and grill on the ocean. We stopped for dinner and had an amazing meal of fresh grouper. There were a bunch of people at the restaurant watching the football playoffs so the mood was light and jovial. I got up to go to the bathroom and had to wait. While waiting, a man went into the men’s room. Soon after, another man came by to use the men’s room and opened the door on the first man who had neglected to lock the door. THAT was a site I didn’t need to take with me. After dinner and watching the Pittsburg Steelers win their playoff over the Denver Broncos, we took off.

Once back in the motel room, we turned off the air conditioning and opened the window so we could hear the roar of the ocean and watched a DVD. As the evening progressed, it became evident that Bob had gotten badly burned. He was turning more and more red and looking very much like a lobster. I slathered lotion on him and put him to bed while I watched ABC Sunday night TV. Poor guy was burning up and was not too comfortable. Tomorrow he is going to swim in sunscreen. Tomorrow is our last full day at the beach and we are supposed to have another full, warm, sunny day. Yay!

The book I am reading while here is very good. It is one my mom gave me and it has resonated with me every page. It is called “Captivating” and is all about the call on a woman’s life. I am only four chapters in but have been moved to tears at least 8 times. I keep thinking of all the women in my life that would benefit form this book. I may go broke buying it for them all.