A Day at the Beach

Most of the time when we’re down at the Breeze Inn on Tybee, we’re preoccupied. Mr. Mary Kay is out fishing on his boat, I’m junking, or pimping my antique booth at Seaside Sisters, or working on the next book. We’ve had a busy weekend this month, as always, seeing old friends, ect. I did a signing for BLUE CHRISTMAS at Seaside Sisters, and Mr. Mary Kay was tearing up the sea trout and redfish. But Saturday night, our friend Carolyn invited us to join her and her husband at “the point” for sunset. It had been another beautiful mild autumn day on Tybee, and sunset sounded like a great idea. We fixed ourselves an adult cocktail and headed off to the beach. The first thing we spotted was the glowing orange sky over Little Tybee Island. Silhouetted in front of that was a small wedding party, a young bride and her handsome groom in full Marine dress uniform. As we were headed down the boardwalk, another man nervously asked my husband if he could give him a hand carrying his stuff down to the beach. He had two picnic baskets, a cooler backpack, and a portable CD player, plus a blanket. He confided to MMK that he was plotting a proposal for his girlfriend, and packed everything for just the right ambience.
We joined our friends on the beach and settled in for a technicolor sunset. The wedding was completed with a quiet round of applause. Children splashed in the chilly water in front of us, and lovers strolled past hand-in-hand. We chatted with our friends, but mostly took in the spectacular scenery. As the sky turned violet, and then dark blue, we packed up our little camp and headed back up the beach. We spotted the young lovers, laughing and sipping wine in the glow of a candle, and we could hear strains of their mood music floating across the dunes. We discreetly skirted their location, fingers crossed that the young man’s proposal was accepted. We rode back to The Breeze and our planned dinner, with a renewed vow to stop and watch the sunset—even in November.