Saxis Virginia and a last goodbye

 This weekend Paul and I took a little road trip to the tiny Island of Saxis, Virginia ( a 3.5 hour drive from Baltimore)  to visit my aunt and uncle.

 

 

 

 I hadn't been to their beach front house since I was a kid.  

Way back to when my older cousin Gary had appropriately changed my middle name to "dirtyface".

 

So many things have changed since then.

 

Not only is my face clean now,  but

 the island is much smaller then I remember.

 

 

 

The last time I was there,  my aunt and uncle were probably close to my age.

That's a crazy thought.  They, along with my parents were young and vibrant  and I was too busy being a dirty faced kid to notice.

As a little kid, what I do remember is learning to pick my first crab in the old rambled house that once stood in place of the beautiful home that's there now.  

I remember the flies...  biting flies.  Mosquitoes are wimps compared to the Saxis flies.  Mostly I remember cuffing my jeans up over my calves and walking the seashell abundant beach for hours gathering treasures.  Broken conch shells, huge clam shells and thanks to my aunt Jan's instructions, I even collected the hard to find sand dollars.  Of course,  I always came back to the house dripping wet.  Sometimes, my mom would get lucky and the beach would be invaded by the scary Darth Vader looking horseshoe crabs and I would be to afraid to get to close to the water.

 

Life was so simple back then... 

 

 

Since then, 30 years of storms and erosion have claimed the shelled beach that holds those memories.  Now, just as they remain locked in my heart,  they are nestled deep at the bottom of the Pocomoke Sound.

 

 

The visit with my uncle who was recently diagnosed with cancer,

was a combination of smiles and tears.  Although I went there to give him love,  it was I who received it.  As my only living blood relative of my parents generation, He will never know how his words touched me.

I will never forget it.

Never.

 

 

It was an emotional ride home,

As I knew that this would probably be the last time I would ever see my uncle.

I spotted this angel in the sky and I felt a sense of gratefulness.

Grateful for the moments I had in Saxis and grateful for my husband who not only sat beside me driving us safely home..  but who has been my rock for the past 26 years.

I felt grateful for my history, the memories and the people and places that fill them.

 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

As I had intended to share with you the rest of our day trip,

I'm gonna end it here and dedicate this post to my uncle who sadly passed away this afternoon.

 

God Speed Uncle Jake!