Both of our children graduated from high school in Rapid City South Dakota and both have traveled and lived in distant places since that time. Our son completed his MLA degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. When he was a student there, I had at least three job answers about what he was doing in North Carolina. One answer was that he’s following in the footsteps of Michael Jordan, who also graduated from UNC Chapel Hill. Another answer was that he was getting a master’s degree in saying, “Shhhh . . .!” The third answer was that after being raised with all of the southern culture of South Dakota, I sent him up north to North Carolina to absorb a bit of northern culture.

During the time that he was in North Carolina he was married. I drove down when he moved there to help transport his household. Then I made another trip by car for the wedding. Along the way, Susan and I did get an opportunity to learn more about Southern Culture. On one of the trips we stopped to get gas in West Virginia. Across from the gas station was a McDonalds restaurant. Going through the drive up was a man in a pickup. In the cab of the truck with him were three dogs. In the back of the truck was his wife and children. It didn’t seem to us at the tie that it was a typical scene for South Dakota.

Another time Susan tried to order a pecan waffle in a Waffle House Restaurant. The waitress seemed to have trouble understanding what she wanted. Finally a big smile came across the face of the waitress who blurted, “Oh honey! You mean a Pee-can waffle!”

Being northerners we have more than a few biases about southerners, so traveling in the south has been good for us to look beyond those biases.

Now our daughter and her family live in South Carolina and each visit we have made since they moved here in 2020 has been a treat of culture as well as family.

Last night we ate dinner at Coconut Joe’s Beach Grill. We sat on a third floor outdoor balcony overlooking the beach on the Isle of Palms. I had fried shrimp with sausage over cheese grits. It is a meal that isn’t commonly offered in restaurants in the places where we have lived, but it definitely was good eating! And it was easy for me to think, “We’re not in Washington right now.”

The Isle of Palms is a barrier island near Charleston that is about seven miles long. The island has been here for at least 25,000 years enduring fierce storms, hurricanes, wind and waves. The original inhabitants were members of the Seewee nation. After discovery by the British the island has had the names of Hunting Island and then Long Island before gaining its current name of Isle of Palms. It was lightly inhabited for many years, but during the 1970s, real estate development boomed and many hotels, condominiums, and other buildings occupied the beach. It is a popular destination for beach combing, kite flying, surfing, swimming, and sunbathing.

The water of the Atlantic is warmer than the Pacific, on average about 15 degrees warmer at each equal latitude. And we are a lot farther south than our home at Birch Bay. We re roughly at the same latitude as San Diego, California. As a result, the water is warm enough for extended swimming and water play and we are visiting with a five year old grandson who definitely was up for extended water play.

Warner water isn’t the only contrast with the beach where we live. Birch Bay is a gravel beach with some sand exposed at low tide. The beach here on the Isle of Palms is sandy and great fun to feel between the toes as we walked barefoot. I don’t go barefoot at the beach back at home.

We occasionally are treated to visits from harbor seals in Birch Bay and we have sighted gray whales and know of those who have seen Orcas in our Bay. Here on the Isle of Palms we saw dolphins swimming just off the public beach where we were playing.

There are all kinds of different ways to say that we aren’t at home during our visit to the Isle.

Yesterday morning was overcast so we didn’t see much of a sunrise despite being on the east coast. Since I’ve been writing in my journal from time to time about our move to the sunset coast, I was hoping to have a picture of the sunrise coast to post with today’s journal entry. However, since I have been posting an occasional sunrise picture from the west coast, the picture with today’s journal entry is a sunset picture from the east coast. There is a long pier jutting out into the ocean near our vacation rental and our rental included the access code to the pier. We’ve walked out the pier a couple of times since we arrived and went there to look at the sunset and I got a few pictures of the sunset over the water.

The sunset was gorgeous from the other side of our rental as well, looking across the island and I realized that folks who have places on the west side of the island probably don’t get the beautiful sound of the waves crashing to shore, but they probably get some gorgeous sunsets over the water.

Sunrise or sunset, there is so much beauty at the ends of the day that I have come to believe that just as there is a beautiful miracle at each human birth, it seems likely that there is beauty to come at the other end of our lives. Learning to notice the beauty of each day is a way to remain sensitive to and appreciative of the beauty that surrounds us every day.

Here in this place or at home in our place, we are incredibly fortunate to be surrounded by the beauty of creation. I’ll keep looking for sunrises and sunsets as this life’s journey continues.