South Haven holds a lot of fond memories for me and my family. My sweet friend Sandy Fowler first introduced me to this hypnotic little town in 2001. She invited me to visit her at a cottage that she had been renting the same week every summer for the past 20 years. The other cottage renters had been returning each year as well and as a result had formed a very fun and closely related community. In addition, my friend Sandy is the hostess with the mostess-she loves to entertain, to take care of people, to feed people and in general is just the most welcoming and hospitable soul I ever met! Our children, Lindsey and Tyler both went to program schools together and graduated at the same time and meantime we parents supported one another through the healing phase of creating what we hoped would be a whole and healthy family. We have remained in touch and friends since those days. Sandy and I try to meet in Grand Rapids every month for dinner at least just to stay connected since I live in Zeeland and she lives in Holt.
THE BOOBSIE TWINS: Our loosing battle against the force of gravity!
Kudos to our friend Debbie-who said the funniest comment of the evening-which we cannot repeat on this blog! Way to go, Deb. I'm still chuckling about it today!
When I stay with Sandy at the cottage we call the "tree house" because it is a little apartment on top of a house that actually does have a tree growing right next to it, we are on what we call "island time". That means no schedule and we do whatever we want whenever we want~priceless! We have spent many an hour sitting on the beach reading The Star, The National Enquirer, Globe Weekly, and other such tabloid fodder, laughing ourselves silly and discussing all the men on the beach in typical Sex and the City fashion....and oh the food! Whether we cook or go out, these girls know how to eat and are ever so passionate about our food! We have also been known to hoist a few toddies at these outings and to take long walks along the picturesque streets or along the sea wall at the south beach.
Sandy's oldest daughter Tara and her sons, Jonathan and Ethan
Gramma Sandy is a lot of fun!
In Pre-Divorce days, we used to rent a suite at the Old Harbor Inn during Harborfest which always seemed to fall on Father's Day. We used to grill out on the deck overlooking the channel and watch the Dragon Boat races and people watch. We took our crappy boat one year that didn't really run very well-it pooped out in the middle of the channel and had to be towed back! The last year we went together as a family, the boys each brought a friend with them and The Old Harbor Inn was throwing a street party in Harbor Village. There was all kinds of food and live music and dancing. We usually turned the kids loose at Harborfest since there were things to do till late down at the waterfront. It started to get late and none of the kids had returned. I decided to sit out on the deck overlooking the party and watch people dance and listen to music until the kids returned from the carnival. I noticed one blond guy who had a swirly cowlick in the back of his head-just like Trev had-he was dancing with some lady about my age! On closer examination, OMG, it WAS Trev! I beat feet down there and summarily cut in on the dance action. The look on Trev's face was about the most hideous thing I'd seen! Glancing around I noticed another one of the boys instigating an argument with two 50-something guys at the bar and the other two milling around the crowd trawling for college age girls! Since all 4 of the guys were underage, I held an inquisition and found out that the boys had hit people up when they left for their over-21 wrist bracelets! Oey Vey! That was the last time we went to South Haven as a family! Jinx.
I still love it though. When I arrived yesterday afternoon, everyone was on the beach. So, we laid around there til late. Us grown ladies played one hilarious round of "what I would or wouldn't do for $100,000 dollars"! Scandalous! We got dressed and went to Clementine's for dinner and strolled along the waterfront. We topped the evening off with ice cream at Sherman's. Perfect.
THE THINKERS...
Girls behaving badly at Clementines-YUM, gotta love those onion rings and ribs!
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