The Drive to Ocracoke Island
Three years have passed since the last time I visited Hatteras Beach for Thanksgiving. This year we spent Thanksgiving on Ocracoke Island. Amazing how much can change in one person’s life in such a short time. While, at the same time, much remains unchanged through time. Three years ago this week I found myself unemployed after 21 years of steady employment. I was in the middle of my divorce. My father had passed away earlier that year. Ocracoke Island, my destination for the week, remains as it was thirty years ago. My vacation partner of three years ago and today, my mother, remains the symbol of strength, goodness, and love in my life.
This Photograph was taken during my 2012 trip to Hatteras.
Today, I have a good job working on one of the largest construction projects in the country. The divorce is complete. Since the last trip to the beach, I have experienced a life changing adventure working a summer in Alaska. It has been three years of growth. In that effort of growth, I no longer write for the Carroll County Times, or the Fishing and Hunting Journal. All my writing energies go toward this blog and publishing a few books. The rejection letters have been many, but I push on. My photography has taking me in a direction I could not have predicted. What once was an activity to help sell my magazine articles has led me to art shows with framed photographs for sale.
Fishing the beach in 2012. Somethings remain the same.
My growth over the last three years would not have been possible without the hand of God in both the answered and unanswered prayers. There have been miracles along the journey.
On the drive south along Route 12 through Nags Head, my mind drifted back to the family summer vacations of long ago. It feels like a lifetime ago when my two daughters rode their bikes through the rain puddles, built sand castles, and played in the surf. I sure do miss them. Unfortunately, the divorce has strained my relationship with them. Not a day goes by I do not think of my two girls and wish I could be a part of their lives. Not hearing from them saddens me, but I must continue my life journey and pray the day of resolution will come.
Life continues on, but the ocean still touches the sandy beach, as it always has.
Driving over the Oregon Inlet Bridge, I gaze out over the beach, surf and inlet. The sands of Oregon Inlet have shifted since my last visit. The storms of past have altered the channel of safe travels. The tidal pond where I once caught flounder and sea trout no longer exists. The shifting sands of a hurricane have filled the pond. But the new cut through the inlet looks prime for catching stripers. While the sands of life are always shifting through the forces of wind and tide, I must not dwell on what once was, but focus on the future and the opportunities at hand.
This past spring’s trip to Portsmouth Island
