Things Change, Life Goes On

Tonight is my last night on St. Pete Beach. It’s the end of a beautiful week spent making memories with my family. I don’t believe I’ve ever been so disappointed that it’s Friday.

But more than that, it is the last night I’ll ever spend in the hotel that has been a staple of our family’s vacations for nearly four decades. We came for one last hurrah before the building is torn down to make way for yet another high rise beachfront resort. The mom and pop hotels that made St. Pete Beach feel like home are falling by the wayside. The coastline sure looks a lot different than it did in my childhood.

There’s hundreds of pictures of me on this beach spanning 40 years of my life. They are the tangible proof of memories made, yet they don’t hold a candle to the pictures and stories that I keep locked inside my brain. When I was two, (the last time I wore a bikini on the beach), my dad and I stood in front of the Harmony House feeding the sea gulls. I wanted to recreate that picture with him this year, but the beach has changed so much that you can no longer see the wall we stood in front of. When I was eight, every day was spent making sand castles and walking the beach with my Pappap looking for sea shells. The week I spent here at thirteen was shared with a very cute blonde boy from Nova Scotia who my cousin invited along one night to play mini golf and eat dinner at Checkers.

At twenty one, I finally got to go to Coconuts for my first live comedy show. At twenty seven, I brought my three year old twins so they could experience the same magic that I had as a child. It meant everything to me to see my babies on the white sugar sands of St. Pete Beach with Mummum and Pappap. At forty one, my husband, daughter, and I drove 16 hours just to and spend three days in my favorite place on earth. And now, at forty two, I’m watching the waves crash on the shore and missing my grandparents more than ever.

It’s not the same without them. It’s strange to see the same hotel that used to be filled with family and friends every July now filled with strangers. Some are friendly, but most are entitled, selfish jag offs who have no concern for anyone but themselves. Some appreciate the quiet family-friendly atmosphere, but others steal chairs from outside other guest’s rooms and drink and play shuffleboard until 3am. It sure isn’t like it used to be. The sad reality is that nothing lasts forever. People, places, and things change. Life goes on.

Take pictures. Be adventurous. Make memories. Cherish the moment you’re in, because you’ll never get that moment back. Keep living, no matter what changes around you. Take time to reminisce, but also remember to embrace the present for what it is…a gift. Live, laugh, and love. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜