Mark Hears of Jeni’s Past

So maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to take my husband along with us to visit my uncle and aunt in Mississippi.  My aunt is a great storyteller, and she entertained Mark with stories of my childhood weirdness.  Like the time I screamed in a restaurant in Puerto Rico because there was mayonnaise on my sandwich.  Hmm.  We have outbreaks of a similar kind around here (not me; I promise it’s not me anymore), and now we have a name for them: Mayonnaise Moments. 

Other than that, it was again a fabulous vacation—even better than last year’s, and I hardly thought that possible. 

Now usually on this blog I turn fairly boring things into—if not a rip-roaring good read, at least passable entertainment.  This time I will do the opposite.  I will tell you of maybe one the most amazing moments of my life, and somehow I will manage to put you to sleep.  Face it Jen, you’re just not made for serious writing. 

Mark, our boys, my cousin, his son, and I all went out on my cousin’s (henceforth called Gabe, because that is his name on most occasions) boat to an island.  On the way Gabe (the aforementioned cousin) stopped the boat because we saw dolphins.  Or rather, he saw dolphins, and although he isn’t terribly impressed by them because he sees them so often, he rightfully thought we would be, and he stopped the boat so we could watch them play.  Thank you, kind cousin Gabe. 

When we got to the island, we saw shadows in the shallows, and it turned out to be three rather large stingrays.  Okay kids, time to jump over and wade to shore.  Don’t mind the dangerous stingrays!  or the blue crabs, or the hermit crabs, or the jellyfish, or the tar balls (yes, we really saw some, but more on that later).

I had fun picking up hermit crabs and singing to them, Bradford was chasing blue crabs into deeper water and nearly got nipped by one, and the other boys were simply being boys.  And we saw dolphins again, close by the shore.  I noticed a few black things on the shore, and sure enough, they were tar balls.  Or maybe tar coins, because these were fairly small.  When I got back to where Gabe was trying to secure his boat, I noticed a much larger tar ball—about the size of a volleyball—and Bradford wanted to take it home.  Um, no.  I told him he could use a stick to chunk off a bit to take with him, which he did, but his hands got so sticky with tar in the process he abandoned the idea of carrying it home with him.  Probably a good thing.

Not sure how it came to be, but the boys all ended up floating around in the water near the boat.  Just beyond them, another pod of dolphins was playing.  Mark and I stood on a beautiful beach on a beautiful sunny day and watched the four boys with the dolphins in the near distance, the crabs and minnows close up.  How much more amazing can a scene be?  I stood for a long time, taking a mental picture since we did not have a camera, and I told Mark if he sees me with a dreamy look in my eyes now, it’s probably because I am re-living that moment.