My Kingdom Of Heaven

I survived another family vacation again. But this time I claimed a partial victory in showing my kids where I spent my youth at but a failure in showing myself on how old I have become. Either way, speaking as a father, I was still the pack mule while everyone else was having fun. And I wouldn’t change one moment of it.

This vacation I took the family to a place where my grandparents use to live at, a place where my older brother graduated high school and life was perfect, Surf City located on Topsail Island in North Carolina. A lot has changed over the years but the people there are still the nicest I have ever met. For the best of my memory goes, my life before school and every summer vacation until the mid-1970’s was spent living on this island.

Back in those days, it was a place where many military people lived. Those stationed at Camp Lajeune would make this island their home that even today there are as many Marine flags as there are American flags waving from the homes on this island. Constant helicopters and airplanes fly over the area so close at times that we could see the pilot was waving at my two boys who were waving at the aircraft.

Early 1970.

I was playing in the sand area at my grandparents’ home and getting a little bored. I went inside and ask permission to go to the beach and play by the water. She said OK and off I walked a block away, crossing two sets of roads and over a sand dune to where I played for a few hours making sand castles and frog holes (that when you cover your foot in sand, pat it down and remove your foot to produce a make shift cave). A man came up to me to informed me that my grandmother wanted me to go home now to which I did.

With tourist and locals on the island there was no fear of one’s life being in danger. With so much military presents and everyone knowing everyone there was a strong since of a family bond. If I did something wrong, my family would know about it before I even got home. Back then, I as everyone my age will tell you, manners was everything. There was no back talking; always a yes sir or no sir, yes ma’am or no ma’am. No one locked their car doors. Windows were kept rolled down. Houses were never really locked up at night as the doors stayed opened during the day.

Today.

If all that happened today, there would be outrage of mass proportions. I would be placed in a foster home and my grandmother would be in jail. We both would be tested for drug use as I would be cursing at anything that moved. Cars would be stolen as houses would have been robbed of everything. But not here on Topsail Island. The people here are still nice and understanding as ever.

The island doesn’t have all the bells and whistles other major beaches have. It has all the shops for your beach needs. No major waves for surfing just the beach, ocean and sea shells. It has fishing piers for fishing with sea food restaurants galore accompanied by a few fast food places like Hardees, McDonalds, Domino’s Pizza and subways. There is a Food Lion on the mainland and an IGA store that has been on the island since the dawn of time.

My grandmother worked at a diner located on the right just before you crossed the swinging bridge to go onto the island. There was a jukebox by the door and a TV hanging on the wall. It had a long counter top bar with plenty of tables for the many customers that came here to eat. I always had a plate full of french fries and a large glass of sweet tea that today my two boys have inherited that from me.

My grandfather (papa as I called him) worked at the Ideal Cement plant. It’s now under a different name. A few times he took me there to do some fishing but I was always amazed at the size of the vehicles he would drive. The tires alone were huge. I clearly remember climbing inside one of these tires that was on the ground, sitting up inside of it as my head never touched the top part of the tire. I wanted to take it home with me but he gave me a ride inside the vehicles instead.

Ladders were used just to reach the door to get inside the vehicle or the at least to another ladder that was welded onto the vehicle. He would at times take me for a ride in these vehicles. Scary at first but I really loved it later on. Binoculars were in every vehicle and I could clearly see the huge holes in the ground that my papa had mined out. And some of these holes were filled with water as a make shift fish farm as many employees came here on a Sunday afternoon to do a bit of fishing.

My brother, 12 years older than me, was to me a bit bossy back then. But then again, he was a teenager. He would come home from school, do his homework then disappear for hours at a time, mainly fishing on the Surf City pier. On the weekends he would do night time fishing on the pier. There was a small building at the end of the pier as people would take turns getting a few minutes of sleep during the night.

I use to go with my grandmother early in the morning to carry my brother something to eat as we carried home the fish he had caught during the night. One time the pier collapsed after a hurricane came through. I still remember the diner was still open for business as people took turns looking out the door to the pier to see the ocean just below them. But very quickly the pier was rebuilt and life returned to normal again.

My brother would have to baby sit me at times which meant many trips to a part of the island near the military base. There was a concrete platform as many teenagers would climb onto it to get a better look at the base. Bon fires were lit as alcohol was greatly consumed. For me it was Dr. Pepper. My brother drinks it and so do I. That’s what little brothers are supposed to do.

My job back then was to watch TV and play in the sand by the house or on the beach. My favorite TV shows were Beat the Clock, Search, Ironside, The Six Million Dollar Man and S.W.A.T to name a few. This was my kingdom of heaven. This is what I wanted to show my kids by connecting them to my life on a deeper level.

 I just forgot to take away their Nintendo DS’s in order to create that bonding experience with them.