Up The Creek Without A Paddle
A few days in the sun, and a surprise homecoming
by Terry Toole

I told you about my first wife leaving me last week. She left me to go to the beach, her favorite place to be in this world. She is absolutely sure there will be beaches and oceans in Heaven. I didn't think I could leave when she did, so she went to her Heaven on Earth without me. This is good and bad.

If I hadn't stayed to help get this last edition out, you wouldn't have gotten some of the news you read. If I hadn't stayed to look after my favorite mother-in-law and her look after me, my first wife would have had to stay at home and look after both of us. She needed a few days away from both of us.

It all worked out just right. My 93-year-old mother-inlaw, Uva, and I get along great. I have learned what she likes and dislikes to eat, drink and do. She likes grits and fruit for breakfast. Most anything I can fix her for lunch is fine when she isn't eating at the Senior Center and half a chicken sandwich, hamburger with fries or a fish plate for supper will do. The drink is water without ice, plus her medicine and vitamins. I slip her a few sweets in between meals for being so helpful. This lady not only watches out for me, she helps proof our newspaper each week and does all the inserts by herself. She, like me, is a workaholic. Ever so often her twin sister Una comes to the office and helps with the inserts.

Now Betty Jo, my first wife, invited a couple of friends down to stay with her at Panama City Beach until I got there. She said that they had a great time together.

On Tuesday evening after I helped get that edition in the post office and the news racks and got my daughter Tammy fixed to stay with her granny. I took off for the beach and my bride. I arrived at the beach about 9:30 p.m. Betty Jo gave me directions to the Y and said it was about a mile to the condo. She said take a left at the Y, which leads to the beach road. It was more than a mile or five miles. Thank goodness for cell phones. Here I was looking for the Ocean Towers condo, which was this side of the Holiday Inn condos and in back of Goofy Golf and Burger King. That beach drive has changed a lot.

I drove what seemed like an hour. Betty Jo was standing on the patio looking out on the highway for me. Several times she "saw" my truck, then said no, that's not you, keep coming. I finally got to the Goofy Golf and turned in as Betty Jo said, "I see you." It was good to be seen and to see her.

I stayed from Tuesday night until Friday morning. We had a great time together, as we always do. We walked the beach each morning, and she stayed in the Gulf or sunning on the sand until noon each day. I would go back to the condo and sleep or watch a good western or war movie. My tender old skin doesn't take the sun too well if I don't have a fishing rod in my hand. We went out to eat that wonderful Florida seafood a couple of nights, and just enjoyed sleeping late and being together.

It was a very good three days, which is enough for any newspaper editor to be gone from work. I'm hard to get away from home, but always enjoy it after I get there.

We left fairly early Friday morning coming back home. I wouldn't have traded those days for any amount of money. As the saying goes, they were priceless. However, my favorite time of an outing or trip is getting back home. I can enjoy any place on earth for a short time, but I feel more at ease right here in Colquitt, Miller County, Southwest Georgia than any other place on this planet.

This time it was quite a different homecoming. Something happened while I was gone that has never happened to me, or anyone else in this area before, that I know about. I'm sure stranger things have happened, but not to me, or here in Colquitt, but that is another story, maybe next week or the next. I promised not to write about it at this time.