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Dear Friend,
I should have expected there would be changes. I certainly have changed in the three plus decades since our first meeting. Though I’ve helped raise two children to adulthood, deepened my laugh lines, and can’t run quite as fast as I once could, I still feel the same. It seems that despite all the challenges and outward changes, we’re both the same on the inside as we were back then….
You probably don’t remember the first time we met. I do. It was the summer of 1987. Kate and I had been married less than a year. Feeling it was time to escape the everyday, she suggested a trip to a place that billed itself as “the world’s luckiest fishing village”. Catching fish was not on our agenda. Catching some sun and eating some fish, however was. We loaded our little car, the one with no air conditioning, and headed for Destin not knowing you were waiting for us.
We stashed our luggage and changed into our swimsuits at the small hotel that would be home for the next three days. Then it was off to the public beach on old 98. That’s when we saw you, a well-worn figure sitting alone at the edge of the Emerald Coast. Your character caught our attention. You looked quite at home sitting in the sand watching the waves roll in. You were intriguing, your demeanor reminiscent of Hemingway. Certainly, you had stories to tell.
We didn’t stop. Leaving you to your watch, we continued toward an afternoon of splashing in the Gulf and soaking up a few too many rays. By day’s end, we had worked up the kind of appetite that only the sun and salt air can induce.
We struck out in search of good food and friendly hospitality. We found ourselves heading back in your direction. After a few minutes on 98, we saw you again. Your hold on us lead us to you. We thought perhaps you would agree to share a meal and some of your stories. You didn’t disappoint on either point. You welcomed two strangers as though they were long-lost friends. Your hospitality and the conversation pushed the rest of the world away. Time stood still.
Later that evening as the sun was departing for the other side of the world, you watched us from your familiar spot on the beach as we strolled along the shore. I was holding Kate’s hand in one hand while flying a Baby Bat kite with the other. The feeling of being alive in the moment without any worries about yesterday’s struggles or tomorrow’s uncertainties was incredible. Although it would be another 10 years before we would visit you again, it would be the memory of that evening that would pull us back.
By then we had two children who also fell in love with the Emerald Coast and with you. With the exception of one or two years, we’ve been able to visit you every year since. You watched our children grow into adulthood. Hosted our extended family all those years they joined us for a visit. We watched your situation change, too. You weathered hurricanes and came out stronger after each one, even though one gobbled up most of 98. None of that fazed you. Your character was unyielding and you flourished.
Still for all the changes we’ve both been through, thanks to the rosy hue of nostalgia, I still see you as you were the first day we met. The memory of that first encounter and all the times since, seep down into my soul like rain slowly finding its way through the hard clay to the drought-parched tree roots below.
Now when we walk along that beach under your watchful gaze, I no longer hold my Baby Bat kite. But I still hold my sweet baby Kate’s hand. As we walk the soft white sand holding hands, we also embrace a gift that you helped us give each other.
Forgive my meanderings, but I just wanted to say “thanks”. Thanks for helping us create of one of our first experiences that was uniquely us…a memory that shelters us from life’s tough times….a place we can go just by saying “remember the Back Porch?”
**For those who haven't met our friend**
The Back Porch is a seafood restaurant in Destin that first opened in 1974. A fire and several serious storms have yet to scare it away. It has grown. It had to as more and more Gulf Coast groupies have discovered it. They bring their children who later bring theirs, just like we have. It hasn’t lost its character. The hushpuppies are still amazing and there are still two cats who serve as “taste testers”.
Each year we go, we have our picture made in front of the iconic Back Porch sign. We are not alone in that. It’s just something you do when visiting an old friend.
