Ain't Life A Beach

(Article first published as Week 7: Training on the Beach, Incidents and Oil Spills on Technorati.)

After school got out, I headed for the beach. Thankfully, we go to South Padre Island. We gave extra thanks because the Texas Gulf Coast (at least for now) remains unscathed by the BP oil spill wreaking havoc along the coastline from Louisiana to Florida.

So while the cities of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach in Alabama have closed public beaches because of the gooey, slimy mess, those of us fortunate to vacation along the Texas coast still can enjoy sun, surf and sand as well as some tasty shrimp.

My week at the beach, however, in no way stopped my training for the Susan G. Komen 3-day for the Cure 60 mile walk. 

In fact, I stepped it up a bit and  walked about 30 miles while at the beach. My family made sure I stayed on track offering to walk with me. Sometimes we walked along the beach. Sometimes we walked along Gulf Boulevard. All of it was walked in the hot Texas sun. Walking on the sand provided some extra workout benefits. We even walked a bit across the border venturing into Nuevo Progreso, Mexico, to do a little shopping. 

Although we've been there numerous times before, we did check with the tourist Welcome Center at South Padre Island before we decided to go because of all the drug violence reported in border towns. The very nice Welcome Center people told us that although there had been some "incidents," we would be fine as long as we as we remained aware of our surroundings.

They never did define "incidents." 

While walking across the bridge and while shopping in Mexico, we couldn't help but notice that we were one of the few Americans shopping there. Now I know why.

The very next day another shopping mecca destination for tourist, Matamoras, was in the news for a running gun battle that began at a police station and left seven police officers dead before it ended when the Mexican military finally took control of the situation.

I wonder if those nice Welcome Center people would have referred to that as an "incident."

And all that makes as much sense as referring to the BP oil spill as an "incident." 

Sitting Bones, Sand & What I Learned On My Vacation

Before I left for the fabulous beach at South Padre Island, I told my exercise/yoga partner that she would have to forge ahead without me. I promised to hold my abs in (what’s left of them anyways), and I promised to grind my sitting bones into Mother Earth (as our yoga instructor admonishes us to do).

Now, my exercise buddy Becky and I aren’t entirely sure what our very lovely yoga instructor means by that grinding bones business, but I told my buddy Becky that if it even remotely meant plopping one’s rather large behind into the sand and grabbing some chips and salsa, well then, I had that part covered for the both of us.

So here I am at the beach violating Beach Rule #1 of remaining entirely unplugged during my South Padre week. At least I have been grinding my sitting bones into the sand while finishing two books that have sat on my “Things I Really Want To Read If I Only Had The Time” shelf. I’ve also spent time just sitting and watching things. And, of course, all this watching stuff got me to thinking about other important stuff like all the important things we can learn outside the classroom. And all of that got me to wondering if my principal will let me do all my in-service, professional development type training right here at the beach.

OK, so just maybe I’ve sat out in the sun too long.

Regardless of my sun exposure, I did learn a few things this week. I was going to tell you all about them, but my youngest daughter, (you know the one, the semi-fired VP of Humor Control) didn’t find any of them even mildly amusing. Now while I agree they weren’t necessarily laugh out loud funny, I thought they were insightful, and Jeez Louise, shouldn’t that account for something? My favorite one covered what I learned from watching dogs on the beach. It went something like this…If you make a mess, you really ought to pick it up instead of pretending like it’s not there or trying to hid it in the sand.

See what I mean? I thought it was an amusing little tidbit. I’d share a few more, but it’s time to do some more of that grinding one’s behind thing, along with the chip and salsa thing, and, oh yeah, that reading thing. Besides, I don’t want to get any more of that eye rolling thing from my semi-fired VP.

The Simple Life, Tasty Shrimp & Warning Flags

I’m sure everyone missed me something terrible while I sat on the warm sands, listening to the soothing waves of the Gulf of Mexico while actually reading from the stack of books I’ve been accumulating all year long.

I sure hated to leave the Island (South Padre Island for you non-native types). I love living a life where the only major decision is whether to boil the fresh shrimp or cook them Barefoot Contessa style and the only crisis centers around who used up all the SPF 45 sunscreen leaving only a can of 30 SPF.

Ah, if life were so simple throughout the school year.

I also love the kind of life where you can peak out from your fifth floor balcony and get a heads up on what kind of day you’ll encounter just by gazing on either side to see what color flag is flying… Red for dangerous currents, Yellow for calm to moderate waters (although there’s this clever little notation that just because the waters are calm “does not mean safe water”--Jeez Louise). And, the last one and my least favorite one–Blue for “venemous marine life.”

Now even though I promised myself not to think too much on this trip, all that flag flapping got me to thinking--I know, I know, not necessarily a good thing--but nonetheless, I got to thinking about how maybe, just maybe, I should create and implement my own Flag Advisory System. You know, just to give the kiddos a heads-up on the kind of day in store for them. Besides, I think it would fit in rather nicely with my Code K warning system. So here’s my idea, let me know yours.

The Richie Flag Advisory System

Red Flag…Unless your hair is on fire, you best just sit down and hope for the best. This is a don’t-mess-with-me-day-or-we-may-just-pull-your- liver-out-your-nose kind of day.


Yellow Flag…Things are about as “normal” as they possibly can be, but just like at the beach, calm and normal doesn’t necessarily guarantee safe.

Blue Flag…We’re all feeling a bit snarky in here. Be prepared for sharp-witted and possibly stinking remarks.


I have a bad feeling, though, that the red and blue flags will fly repeatedly and probably simultaneously.