ch-ch-changes

Changes, we all live through them. We all have to deal with them, accept, complain–whatever. The next generation won’t give a damn about the way WE lived, they are concerned with their own way of life–hey, that’s just the way it is. But I like to think when it comes to Surf City and Topsail Island, that I got the best. The above photo is of myself and my sister, Mary Ellen, when the sand dunes where everywhere-that’s where we played if we weren’t running through the marshes, climbing old water oaks and the bumble bee towers. If you wanted a treat you could walk up to the Cooler and get a fancy soft serve ice cream from Miss Inez. You didn’t need a license to surf fish, so I did lots of that, and then Lewis Williamson always had a lower price for kids to fish on Barnacle Bills Fishing Pier. If you wanted an inexpensive floating device for the ocean, my father would sell you an inner tube at the Surf City Texaco station.Those of us who were military brats got to go to the VFW with our parents and listen to music, dance, and play outside on trees and tire swings, fish in the marsh and catch frogs. Weekends we went to South Topsail and the skating rink, then we played putt putt. One thing about Topsail Beach, they have kept the place looking much as it did back in the day. (Thank you Topsail Beach please don’t sell out).

Yes, change happens. I guess priorities factor into that change. Who is calling the shots and their agenda is what determines it. I’ve lived enough places to know that greed should never be the determining factor. The island itself should be that. Oh well, I could go on and on, but will save that for later, or you could read the Topsail Island Trilogy and find out what it was like once upon a time. Thank you for reading.