Due to the coronavirus, most of Florida's beaches are now closed, mainly due to thousands of spring breakers partying on Clearwater Beach and ignoring warnings about the coronavirus. One of the biggest spring break destinations used to be Panama City Beach, but eventually the locals decided enough was enough, and put a stop to the partying several years ago. And Panama City Beach is where I took the photograph on the left of my mother Mary and father Nelson back in April of 1975. We were on the way to Stuart, Florida, where my parents were thinking of retiring. My Aunt Elsie and Uncle Bill (my mother's brother) had moved there a few years before, and loved it. The following year, my parents moved there too.
The summer after my parents moved to Stuart, my sister Susan and I went down to visit, and they gave us a grand tour of the area. One day we drove around Jupiter Island, an enclave of wealth about 15 miles or so south of Stuart, and afterwards we visited Hobe Sound Beach, where I took the photograph on the right. This beach was the first in Martin County (where Stuart is located) to close due to the pandemic. I just hate to think it was because of rich people behaving badly, but one never knows.
My father passed away in 1983, a mere 7 years after retiring to Stuart, but I am happy he at least had those years. He just loved Stuart, as did my mother, who continued to live there for almost 30 years. Susan and I would visit her several times a year, and of course, the highlight each day was visiting Stuart Beach. One such beach visit was documented by a kind stranger in the photograph on the left. Once in a while, I was able to convince my mother to drive with Susan and myself down to Fort Lauderdale or Miami to look around, but it was usually a tough sell. She never wanted to venture far from Stuart. And by the way, that photograph on the left was taken back in 1995, and I am proud to say that after 25 years, that shirt I am wearing is still hanging in my closet. Waste not, want not.
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