I have just spent a few relaxing days at the beach. Ahhhhh. My family is VERY fortunate to have beach property. VERY, VERY fortunate. When I go to the beach, it is definitely My Happy Place. Don’t get me wrong, I have other Happy Places, too. But the beach always draws me in. I enjoy it so much. Partly because of nostalgia and memories.
My grandparents built their retirement home at the beach in 1969. As I child, I stood on the overgrown lot several blocks away from the sandy beach. I helped clear limbs, and uproot bushes, and poke the fire as we burned yard debris. I watched the small brick house get erected on the property. I saw my grandfather tenderly care for the lush green lawn and the masterfully planted azaleas, hydrangeas, caladiums, day lilies and other plants that helped him win “Yard of the Month.” I watched my grandparents work hard to upgrade and close in the carport area to expand their living space in the house. I saw both of my grandparents toil in the vegetable garden, producing enough delicious vegetables to carry them through the year, and even more to share. I saw my grandfather build multiple greenhouses so that he could nurse seedlings and cultivate plants for his yard.
I also watched my grandparents develop friendships with neighbors and others. I saw them build a life at their beach home. During my childhood, we were thrilled to visit my grandparents when we could. We enjoyed countless vacations at their house, spending time with them and playing on the beach. That tiny 1-bathroom brick home with a lawn was a big part of my childhood. Lots of memories.
As both my grandparents and I aged, my experiences at the beach house evolved. Their day-to-day needs became a priority. Visits to the beach house included chores, home maintenance, medical assistance, and other things to keep the household running and to help elderly family members. There was sometimes a free minute when I could run down to look at the beach, but most of the time was spent helping my grandparents. Taking care of any needs that they had.
And then I had kids. When I took my kids to visit their great-grandparents, I maintained a balance of helping my grandparents with their needs and giving my kids a proper beach vacation. There came a time period of assisted living and other off-site arrangements, before my grandparents passed away. My kids were still very young, some not even born yet, when the beach house became vacant.
With a vacant beach house, I started a new summer tradition. I operated on a teaching calendar (yay summer break!), so I was able to craft a schedule of summer fun for me and the kids. (Thanks, Rob, for working all those summers while we played!) I would haul up and take the kids to the beach for a month. We had so much fun exploring the area, developing our routines, finding our favorite haunts, etc. We invited countless friends to join us at the beach, sometimes having week after week of different friends coming and going. We had an absolute blast establishing our home base and living at the beach house. I know that we were EXTREMELY fortunate to have that kind of opportunity. We were so thankful to my parents for holding onto the beach property, and, again, to my husband Rob for providing the means for us to vaca. We formed so many wonderful memories there at the beach house. Pics from early 2000's.
As my kids grew, their summers shifted to scheduling sports practices, band practices, church youth activities, jobs, and other things that tethered them to our town. So, the tradition of our extended stay at the beach house fizzled out. Now, we take opportunities to run down to the beach whenever we can. Months go by without a visit to the beach. But, every time we make it down there, we are grateful that we can. There is always a looming question of whether our family can/should afford the cost of maintaining the house. Expense vs use. But, as of now, we still hold the property, and we still care for the house, replacing the A/C system (that’s actually happening right now, as we speak) and other repairs. We are SOOOOOO thankful that we have our tiny little beach house. We love to go there, and we always look forward to stopping by our favorite familiar restaurants and other exciting places. Places that helped us form years and years of wonderful memories.
But, this time, on this most recent visit to the beach, we encountered something unexpected. While insignificant to many, it was very significant to us. I’m sure that to most people this (non)issue could be considered picky, even petty. But, to me was jarring enough that I had to immediately send an emergency text to family members who weren’t with us, to apprise them of the situation. And, now I will apprise you, too.
At the beach, one of our traditions is getting ice cream at our favorite ice cream shop. Painters Ice Cream has been around forever, since the 1960s. The homemade ice cream is delicious. The store is always packed with customers. There are, basically, 2 main ice cream parlors in town, and they constantly jockey for Best at the Beach accolades. People are usually firmly in one camp or the other. We are Team Painters all the way. As we plan a trip to the beach, one question, invariably, is “When are we going to go to Painters?" On our recent beach trip, it was extremely shocking when we drove by and saw a new sign on the ice cream store. Drippy’s. Wait, what???? We immediately pulled out our phones to research this unexpected development, and to fire off texts to other family members. The Painters website had a very long, very enthusiastic explanation of their NEW NAME and the rationale behind it. It also had a slightly apologetic tone. Seems like there was some brand confusion with another store in the distant area; and seeing as Painters was about to expand with a new location, they decided to adopt a new name to go in a new direction. Or some hogwash like that. Same owners, same business. The new name had JUST gone into effect a few days before we arrived. We were not fans of the new name Drippy’s. Not at all. We kept shaking our heads and repeating, “Drippy’s?! Driiippy’s??!! Driiiiiiippy’s?????!!!!” But, whaddaya gonna do?
In my opinion, what Painters Ice Cream SHOULD have done was conduct a contest for naming the restaurant, letting people vote for their favorite choice. Giving their customers a say. They should have advertised, or teased that they were about to make a change. They should have prepared us for the fact that a piece of our tradition was being ripped away. Change the name abruptly without notice? How could they?
Well, we did eat at our favorite ice cream shop, and I’m happy to say that the employees were very excited about the new name. There was enthusiasm all around. Our ice cream was delicious, as expected. We had a very pleasant time on our ice cream run. But, we didn’t, and never will, use the name Drippys. The shop will always be Painters to us. As it should be.
Isn’t it interesting how things often change? But, the changes that might bother me most are not the things around me that I see every day, the things that I have to adjust to quickly. Instead, what bothers me most are the things that I count on and expect to see when I return to a beloved place. How could they mess with my memory? Why would they take away something that I have come to love and look forward to so much?
Isn’t it odd that we were so affronted by the name change at our favorite vacation ice cream spot? Even when the store, the employees, the owners, and the ice cream were all the same? Like I said, it’s picky and petty to fret about. I know we will get over it. But, sometimes, I think we like to cling to the familiar. We like the comfort of knowing that things will be consistent. That we know what to expect. And, we feel like something has been stolen from us when an unexpected change occurs. There are many many things worse that a name change on our fav ice cream shop. We are SO, SO lucky to even have the opportunity to visit there. So, I will try to put my pouty face away and show some gratitude. I WILL just get over it, adjust to the situation, and get on with my life.
After all, the ice cream was just what we expected. I got 1 scoop of Vanilla Toffee Crunch on a waffle cone. And it was scrumptious! What could be better than hanging out at the beach and licking on a treat like that? Perhaps I should learn a thing or two from the ice cream -- Just Chill. After all, as they say….
"Nostalgia is not what it used to be." ---Simone Signoret
Gwen, I enjoyed this so much! And I did not know about the name change! I remember going there many times as a child & teenager! Great memories of fun times at the beach with my family & friends.
Jan, that's what I'm saying - so many people have memories tied to places like that!
I like your photos. They take me back to the same era, just a midwestern version of it. I know that our relaxed childhood days seem odd to today's kids, but I have great memories of goofing off. I like your conclusion a la ice cream: just chill. I can still do that!
Ally, of course this was pre-cellphone times, but when I took the kids to the beach house, we had one barely working TV with limited channels. And I didn't allow them to take their video games. We definitely had to create our own entertainment, But, it wasn't hard to do. I'm sorry to say that now we freak out if we can't get internet! I have to remind myself about the Just Chill part.