It's been nearly seven years since we made our decision to move to Delaware. I could go on about the the community we selected, the house we built, our clubhouse and vast array of activities, the kindness of our fellow community dwellers and friendship of our neighbors, but I’ll focus on the defining moments of yesterday.
On Saturday, we decided to pack some chairs and take a ride to Lewes Beach with our daughter and 6-year-old grandson, who were visiting from New Jersey. It was a beautiful day, so we shed our sweaters as we looked for a clear spot to sit near the water. It was a decent crowd for an April afternoon.
Not three minutes after opening our chairs and unpacking pails and a shovel, a nearby beachgoer approached and spoke briefly with my wife. After she left I asked my wife, Barbara, what the conversation was about. Our neighbor had noticed our grandson wearing long pants, and explained that she lived nearby and said it would be easy to to run home and grab one of her son's bathing suits so our grandson could test out the water. Our grandson, who is a bit shy, said no thank you, though it was apparent he'd love to go in. Behind us was a grandmother with her daughter and grandson, who overheard the conversation. The grandmother explained that her grandson had an extra bathing suit in her car, and our grandson was more than welcome to it.
With mouths agape, we thanked her effusively and told her how nice that would be. Our grandson now had a bathing suit and a playmate.
The kicker is that they left the beach earlier than we were planning, and despite our offer to wash and return the bathing suit, she merely said, "No problem. Please keep it and remember this beautiful day." Ah, Delaware!
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