It starts slowly….. you never see it coming. You realize you live in a small town where being a character is a badge of honor. It’s the whole Key West thing- you know – you’re at the end of the chain of islands, can’t get any further south- or in the case of Tybee- can’t get any further East. It’s where everyone has a story, some better stories then others, some sadder then others, but everyone has one.
You notice that you really don’t mind wearing a baseball cap to cover your hair ( but it better be a Doc’s Bar cap or Tybee Bomb Squad Hat). You find that flip flops are your shoes of choice ( and some Tybee characters have found socks to wear with flip flops) You find reasons not to go over “The Bridge” to the “mainland”. You really don’t need that car because your fat seat beach bike – the rustier the better ( won’t get stolen that way!) gets you pretty much where you want to go. You have the internet to order basically anything you want AND it gets delievered to your front door- so you find yourself happier and happier with a wonderfully simple life style!
And then it happens. You become one of the characters you used to point out to your friends with a giggle…. Yes, this happened to me yesterday. My summer island car- the 25 year old volvo with KiKi, DeeDee and Jeff also carries around Danny and Max, my two labs. And poor Danny has a terrible hot spot from scratching that grew over night and to keep him from scratching, he has to wear a collar. But because Dr. Maheny,my wonderful vet ( Island Vet Clinic on Wilmington Island- the best vets in the world!) felt that because Danny was an island dog, he needed a much more festive protective collar vs those boring white Elizabethan style collars. So Danny looks like he’s wearing a life preserver and of course he rides in the front seat of the volvo- hence the tybee character I’ve become….
