As Hurricane season kicks off in the mid-atlantic, so does Vacation season. Since I have moved to Virginia, I have been to or attempted to go to the beach for vacation 6 times. 5 times I actually made it there, 3 times evacuated for a hurricane in the beginning or middle of the vacation week and that 6th time we never even left our house. The hurricane didn’t hit where we were going, but it sure as heck hit my house – so I had to stay home. (side note – Michael was off camping in the WVA mountains unable to be reached during #6).
There are stories around all of the beach trips and hurricane evacuations, but I have to say my favorite is the last “family” beach vacation where we went along with our neighbors, the Lacombe family; Steve, Candy, Hannah and Andrew.
We spend a lot of time with the Lacombes. Hanging in the cul-de-sac sharing our love of wine and stories with Steve and Candy, Hannah was our babysitter as was Andrew once Hannah got a “real job” and all this time Steve and Candy both talked about how much they would love to go on a beach vacation and hadn’t found the opportunity since Candy was “in the chair”. So one year, we decided we were going to make that happen come Hell or Hurricane 🙂 . We needed some special accommodations given Candy is in a wheelchair, so I did some searching for a wheelchair accessible rental house. Once we nailed down a few that sounded right, Steve and I got on the phone with the rental agency and spoke with an agent at length who was familiar with all the properties. We need to be sure there was a roll-in shower for example. There had to be an elevator so Candy could have access to all the floors. We also wanted a pool at the house and easy access to the beach.
We were going to do this up right. The kids were all allowed to invite 1 friend. We rented a “beach wheelchair” for Candy who’s only want was to put her feet in the ocean again. We packed up 3 vehicles, had Michael’s new Kayak on the roof of mine and Hannah drove the 3rd vehicle on her first ever road trip as a new driver.
We left on a Sunday, drove the 4+ hours down to the house. Everyone stayed in the driveway and started to unload vehicles while I went to check in and get the keys. By the time I returned, Steve had been around the house several times and reported that there was no ramp or entryway that Candy’s wheelchair could fit through. While we were talking with the rental agent, we indeed asked about wheelchair accessibility into the building, but never used the word “ramp”. In short, this house was set up for someone in a MANUAL wheelchair, not an electric one (which weighs about 400 lbs empty). I went back to the rental agency, explained our dilemma. They were terrific and sent a guy over right away. We decided that if he can build a ramp, we could get Candy through the patio doors by the pool. It took an additional hour or so, but between the rental agency maintenance guy and Steve, a ramp was built and Candy was in the house. Problem 1 solved.
That obstacle behind us, we moved on to the elevator. This particular kind of elevator has a standard door and inside the door there is a “sliding/folding” door with a magnetic catch. It seems that the magnetic part needs to be connected before the elevator will work. Unfortunately, for a quadrapalegic, sliding the folding door can be difficult. Poor Candy got stuck in there the first time. We waited and waited for her to come up and finally sent someone to the first floor to see what the hold up was. Once we finally got to her, we decided someone would always be in the elevator with her to ensure we got a solid connection and no one got stuck in the elevator. Problem 2 solved.
Of course we all wanted to hit the beach so shortly after we got everything unpacked, we grabbed our stuff and headed down to check out the water. The kids and I went ahead to find a spot, set up shade, etc. Heck, its August in the south – even at 3pm its hot as hades. It took awhile, but finally I notice all the people around us looking at the walk-over that goes over the Dunes. They are watching Michael and Steve carry Candy down the steps in her beach wheel chair. This is not unusual for them, but the Beach Wheelchair made it particularly difficult. Imagine a wheelchair built out of PVC piping, heavy duty mesh for the seat and back and HUGE inflatable tires. The entire design of the chair was to make it light so it could easily move across the sand. The smile on Candy’s face was terrific. She had waited so long to see the beach and it didn’t take her long to want to get down there and put her feet in the water. I remember her saying – “I know I can’t feel it, but I want to get in that water and put my feet in the sand”. You ask, Ms. Candy, and you shall receive……
Steve and Michael roll Candy down to the waters edge and put her in close enough so the water will rush over her feet. Everyone is feeling great about overcoming the initial obstacles, we are now at the beach and Candy has her feet in the water. With Steve on one side of Candy and Michael on the other they all three are looking out at the ocean, watching the waves when all of a sudden some rogue wave comes in, lifts Candy’s wheelchair and flips her forward face-first into the ocean! It took a second or two before the boys noticed she had gone over. I hear a HOLY SH&T from Steve as both he and Michael reach down to grab the arms of the chair and pull Candy back up. At the same time I turn around to see Hannah (who is a lifeguard at this time) running across the beach at us like Pamela Anderson in Baywatch. Once Candy is pulled out of the water, all you can see is the ear to ear grin on her face. “That was AWESOME” she says……” I don’t want to do it again, but that was great!” I thought poor Steve was going to have a heart attack. Once you get a neck injury, it could easily be worsened by something like had just happened. I am happy to report, all is well……but the story is not over.
You may not know (and I sure didn’t until we took this vacation) that if you are confined to a wheelchair, you should NEVER wear your seatbelt while in your chair when you are near water such as a pool or around a lake. The reason for this is if you happen to go into the pool with your belt on, you will get dragged down to the bottom of the pool right along with your 400lb wheelchair. Consequently, since Candy had to exit the house through the patio doors out to the pool, then through a gate on the side yard to get out to the car, she never had her seatbelt on. Candy was extremely consciencious about the seatbelt issue while we were outside, so much so that she would not be outside without someone else with her (smart, right?). Until the day that we were EVACUATED due to a hurricane……
It was Thursday morning and Steve and I had gone down to the beach as we are early risers in our households. Early mornings in the outer banks of NC, you can often see dolphins frolicking just outside the surf and I just love watching the sun come up over the ocean. It was about 7am when we headed back to the rental. Along the way, one of the neighbor houses said “did you get your call yet? They are evacuating the island”. Ugh………….it felt like we had just unpacked and now not only did we have to evacuate, but so did all the other vacationers on the single lane 12 mile stretch of the island. Traffic…..here we come. Once we have just about everything packed up, Michael and Candy come out the patio door, past the pool to the gate to get in the van for the trip home – no seat belt. There was a good 4-inch drop from the concrete of the patio to the yard and with Michael behind her, Candy moved forward a bit too fast and BOOM – the front wheels went down too hard and threw Candy right out of her chair onto the grass face-first. Michael was stuck behind the chair and Steve was over by the van in the driveway. He FLEW over to Candy, picked her up to check her out and got her back settled in the chair. Confirming no injury, we moved on to leave our treasured beach vacation.
To this day, Michael talks about this story and reminds himself that he was the one watching over Candy each time she took a tumble. Candy remembers it all fondly and still says taking a tumble into the ocean was FANTASTIC.
That was the last “beach vacation” I think Michael will go on with me. It seems I am the common denominator to every vacation coming right along with a Hurricane. I don’t know why they haven’t named one after me yet. J