Remembering March At Stuart Beach

Years ago, when my mother Mary lived in Stuart, Florida, I would visit her several times a year. When I could manage it, I would come down in March so that I could attend some baseball spring training games. My mother and I would also head to Stuart Beach almost every day for an hour or so. March was usually fine for sitting on the benches under the boardwalk shelters, although a little too chilly for swimming. However, it was always fun to sit and watch the tourists going into the water, pretending they were not freezing their asses off. The photo on the left shows us as we were leaving for the day after one of those beach visits.

August was the best month for going to the beach. There was no bumper to bumper traffic while driving there, and it was nice and hot, but with a cool breeze off the ocean. August was also the month my sister Susan would come down to Stuart with me, which made our days at the beach much more exciting. Susan liked to get on her boogie board and head straight out to sea, worrying the hell out of my mother. We would watch her go farther and farther out, but eventually she would head back to the beach, and walk up the boardwalk to join us, as seen in the photo on the right. Another close call avoided.