Chick's Kick weekend....

My girlfriends from junior high school and I go to the beach every once in a while.
We sit around a catch up on all the kids and men in our lives. We re-acquaint ourselves with each other and we relax.
This time is a little different, we are missing one of our parts.
Not all of us can come, because of prior commitments, and one of us is no longer living in this dimension.
We miss Anne.
We have not been together since the funeral.
We will have to confront the sadness.
We will do it together.
But it is difficult, especially when we all are not able to attend. I have to admit, I go this time, merely because I feel I should. My closest friend will not be there. It is hard to think in those terms, but it is the truth.
I want us all to become closer somehow.
It is like our childhood is slipping away so fast now, that I can hardly remember it.
Example;
As I "googled" the route, and the address of the condo (which I had been to before, but couldn't for the life of me remember) I realized that this condo is within blocks of where the oceanfront house of my childhood was located.
It belonged to the grandfather of my best buddy, growing up. We spent many an evening there, conspiring how we would sneak out and check out the beach at night. It is no longer there either, it is now replaced by a high rise something or other. It was a very cool house, even without A/C. It had a massive fireplace and mantle, a gigantic family room and screened in porch that stretched the length of the house on the ocean side. Hammocks from Pawleys Island, rockers painted white, and lots of breezes, even in August. It was magical.
I have always been a beach person.
Most people are one or the other,
Beach people or Mountain people.
My parents are Mountain people.
They do not like the beach, too much sand, salt and hot.
I loved it the moment I stepped foot on the sand.
Going there this time is packed with emotions.
On the one hand,
I can't wait,
and on the other,
I dread the "reality hit".