The forward lines

I’ve been providing reports from the front on the war against stress in the day-to-day world. Here’s a shot from the forward lines in this mortal combat. This is the view from the screened porch of Bead Cottage, one of the jewels in the treasury called Tybee Cottages where Jim Heflin turns island retreats into magic. Just beyond that corner is the pool, which you can see in the second picture. We refer to that sacred realm of relaxation as the Outer Bead. When we’re not out and about, it is where we spend 80% of our time ... Kindling, Scrabbling, blogging, and writing Tit for Tat: A Novel of Retribution.  Part of that other 20% is spent in the pool, also known as the Sea of Bead.

Just outside of the southwest corner of the pool shot, there is an outdoor shower behind a half wall with saloon doors and a shower curtain. We’ve enjoyed three one-week stays in the cottage now, and I’ve only taken a shower inside twice … once due to not knowing better and once due to a scattered shower. Outside showering is very liberating.  We have stayed at three other homes on Tybee, but none of them offered cleanliness quite as next to Godliness.

The cottage was built in 1938 and was renovated by renowned preservationist Jane Coslick in 2004. Since it fell into the loving hands of a new owner a few years back, we discover new and desirable refinements each time we return. At 812 Second Avenue, it is right on the bike path that runs the three-mile length of the island and is only five minutes from a dune bridge that eases you into the best beach peddling that can be found anywhere.

You just can’t ever tell who you might see here in the suburbs of heaven. Several years ago, we were three or four addresses away from John Mellancamp’s Officers' Row home. Two years after that we were only a few doors down Bay Street from Sandra Bullock’s manse on the north end of the island at a place where you can see both the Cockspur and Tybee lighthouses. Four doors down from Bead you can find Breeze Inn, the island home of the famous author, Mary Kay Andrews. Just last night we imbibed with the Tybee Pirate. And, of course, everyone knows that Second Hand Rose can be found on Second Avenue. If you want to find Suzie and Dick, just look in the Outer Bead or on a Fat Tire Bike on the sands of Tybee.

Whoever came up with that Disney catch phrase about the happiest place on earth has obviously not been to Tybee Island. Try it, you’ll like it. This is where we go when we have a need for Bead. Oh, about that mortal combat … Tybee trumps stress every damn time.

It always helps in life to have a good grip on who and what your are.  Part of what I know about myself is that I'm a Kansan by residence, a Missourian by employment, a Louisianan by birth, Southern by the grace of God, and a Tybee Islander at heart.  Soon I'll quit hanging out in a bank in Missouri on weekdays and spend more time writing and sneak over here to the suburbs of heaven more often and for longer stretches ... much longer.