South Carolina

when i was young (and even into my teen years) my family would vacation at the beach during the summer... usually we stayed at Myrtle Beach, SC because it was cheap and family friendly... sometimes my grandparents (mom's side) would even come with us... they loooooved the beach, and they loved to see us kids having fun... i remember one time, i had spent all the money mom and dad had given me for the day at an arcade... when they wouldn't give me more money to waste on games and such, i was pretty upset (yeah, i was spoiled)... my poppaw took me aside and pulled a $10 out of his wallet and told me to go have fun... now, for a young kid $10 is a lot, especially when mom and dad had only given me $3 to spend in the arcade (hey, three bucks went a long way back then)... so naturally, i was super excited that i had so much money... but then i remember how i used to go to the bank with mommaw and poppaw to cash their social security checks, and how mommaw would "allow" poppaw to have only so much of his, which wasn't really all that much... and it made me think that the $10 he had given me might have been nearly all he had (how was i to know that mommaw let him have more for going on vacation??) and i got really upset about him giving me so much money, and i tried to give it back... then he got mad thinking mom had told me i had to give it back, and went to take it up with her... she of course had no idea what he was talking about, but after that she knew i'd gotten more money and wouldn't let him give the money back to me... it was a big confusing mess for a kid, but it was the first time i really remember being conscious about money...

sometime later, after my family had gotten so big that we had to take two cars on vacation (including grandparents), i decided to ride down with mommaw and poppaw... now, them being older, they had to stop a whole lot... and everytime they stopped, i got some new toy or junk food (which dad didn't allow us to have when he would stop)... boy did i get spoiled on that vacation...

one year, we went without dad (he "had to work")... there was enough room in our van for mommaw and poppaw to ride with us and not take a separate car... and of course, there was lots of stopping along the way... lots of spoiling us grandkids... everything that dad wouldn't allow us to do, we got to do that year... we jumped on the bed, splashed each other in the pool, spent all day on the beach (and didn't have to leave to go to a museum, or do something educational)... it was a good time... that was the year mom got us lost on the way back... somehow, we got turned the wrong way in columbia and ended up in Georgia before we realized something was wrong... lol... we got a kick out of it... dad didn't find it amusing when we got home (hours later than what we had planned)... and at that time there weren't cell phones to call with changes of plans... i couldn't understand why he was so irate about us being late... years later, mom told me it was because he could have had a few more hours with his girlfriend if he knew we weren't gonna be home till later... *sigh* i miss being a naive kid...

always on our trips to the beach, my family would stop at this little novelty place just as we crossed into SC (from NC)... we would find the cheapest, tackiest things there... and when you're a kid, you love anything out of the ordinary, so this place was right up our alley... we bought games, and toys, and beach items, noise makers to annoy the adults... oh the fun we had... after my family stopped vacationing at the beach, i often wondered if that place was just in my imagination (since none of my friends had ever heard of it), or (if it was real) what had become of it... wouldn't you know, this past spring when i was helping chris move from FL to NC, we happened upon that place again... South of the Border... it has grown into a sprawling mexican ghetto... okay, so not really the ghetto, but it was definately tacky... and just like when i was a kid, i bought the cheapest, tackiest items i could find... hehe...

hopefully in about a month or so, i'll have some more memories of South Carolina to add to my bank... Chris and I are going there for the 4th of July holiday... and we're going on a Casino Cruise (that is if he's remembered to call and make our reservations... ahem)... i can't wait!!! and i'll be sure to let y'all know how it goes...