The next day we headed back out to Assateague National park where we went to visit the light house.
Thankfully there were ONLY 200+ stairs in this thing!!!
Washington wanted to take "our" picture together...he said he could not see me in the pic (but I am that orangish dot in the bottom right.....
Here we are, wind blown and red.....oh wait that is just me! So much for that pale skin, i managed to turn it lobster color.
Get your OWN crab cake!...this guy flew right up the patio where we were having lunch and started talking to us...NO WAY was I giving him my crab cake and by the way Washington was guarding his flounder I took it he was not sharing either.
A GREAT end to our vacation.....
We went back to the beach area to scope up some sand in a Tupperware to display our found shells to show Tristan (if this is illegal, please strike the above comment!) As we were driving down the road way on the bay side I saw these people out in the water with sticks behind their backs. I asked Wash what he thought they were doing and he said "metal detectors"...which REALLY made me laugh since #1 they were standing in almost knee deep water, #2 the thing was behind their back, #3 they were the ONLY family out there and #4 the 50,000 people there were across the street on the BEACH in the Ocean....but none the less I let him have his "metal detectors" theory. After getting our sand we headed back and they were still out there, now it was driving me nuts so I had him pull over so I could ask. Of course his reaction was "You are going to ASK them?" (my social butterfly that he is!) As I walked down I realized it was a family of 6 and one of them had Down Syndrome. I was astounded! I spoke to the Mom first to ask what they were doing, all the while keeping my eye on the young man. She was so sweet and immediately took me in and started showing me that they were clamming and gathering Mussels to cook. She introduced me to her husband and asked him to show me the mussels and where he was getting them from. He immediately took me over and started talking and showing me all kinds of neat stuff. Turns out he is a retired Biology teacher....LOVE TEACHERS! I asked if his son had DS and told him my daughter does. He said a few things about it, but kept right on with his lesson. The great thing is he was interesting with it and not like some of my old teachers. He had so much info and I felt like he could have gone on talking and demonstrating for hours and I was willing to listen! We wandered back to his family and he told his wife that we had a daughter too. She was so sweet in introducing me to her son John, her 2 daughters and their son-in-law. We talked for a long time and John was there listening and participating the whole time. He even let me in on a NEW family secret that his sister was pregnant. When he told me i thought she was surely 3 months along because usually you wait, but she turned out to be 10 weeks...he was just SO excited about the new baby to come and being a Uncle. He looked like he was going to burst he was so excited. It was totally contagious and I could not help but smile and laugh with them. I spent about 30 minutes out on the beach talking to them and not once did they make me feel an intruder on their vacation. I eventually had to walk off so we could head back home, but i have been thinking about that family ever since. I kick myself for not getting their info, but what I do know is our paths were meant to cross and there was a lesson to be learned.
John was AMAZING! He held 3 jobs, spoke very well and was also getting ready to move out of his parents home to live with 3 other friends in a home for people with special needs. He was saving his money to buy a TV and DVD player and he had the biggest love of life you could ever imagine. It came across in his smile and his mannerisms so strongly that you could not help but be caught up in it with him. I needed this reminder..:)
GOOD LUCK John where ever you are!
Today was a beautiful kind of day...
The Mommy
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