My Final Beach Story

Before we had Christopher, Kate and I took a lot of adventures together. From Canada, to Asia, to the Caribbean, we’ve explored, seen the sites, and gotten to know the locals. But, amid all the fun times, we’ve also had our share of misadventures. Motion sickness in Montreal. Getting lost in Bangkok. An island-wide blackout in Turks and Caicos. But, what could go wrong with a simple trip to the beach?

When we got to the townhouse in Rehoboth, the development was quaint and quiet enough. Our unit included all the amenities anyone could ask for: like a pool, bikes for summer rides, parking pass, washer/dryer, and of course, wi-fi. But it also had a Zenith tube tv, furnishing from the days of my grandmother, gloomy looking carpet, and a mattress that was harder than an ironing board. To cap off the stylish decor, the owners had his fish collection from lost city of Atlantis.

But, perhaps even more prevalent than the fish, were a neverending series of notes, or more accurately instructions, posted all over the house by the owners, our gracious hosts, Ken and Deb. At first, I thought it wasn’t a big deal, but over time, I began to wonder if we were being watched by the all-seeing eye of Big Brother Ken. Ken even told me in one of his emails: DON’T DAMAGE THE HOUSE!”.

We laughed. Kate and I are responsible tenants. How would we ever possibly damage the house?

All week Kate and I had the ominous feeling that Kenneth, the owner, would stalk us back to B-more if we didn’t keep his townhouse pristine. His words: “Don’t DAMAGE THE HOUSE!” were dancing through our collective heads– we also wanted our $500 security deposit back. So we were determined to take care of this rental like a fancy Ferrari.

As we headed back from dinner at Big Fish on our final night there, we breathed a collective sigh of relief. All we had left to do was pack our suitcases. We’d made it through the week unscathed. Not a mishap or disaster in sight. Just a relaxing, idyllic vacation.

That’s when catastrophe struck.

To make a long story short, I’d begun to feel a little under the weather earlier that afternoon, so I decided to take a restorative soak in the tub. After I’d let Calgon take me away, I was jarred out of my state of relaxation by the sound of Kate’s panicked voice. “DAVE OH MY GOD! THIS IS BAD!”

It turned out that during my bath, water had improperly drained from the bathtub and waterlogged the 1st floor ceiling and turned the dining room table into a nice little pool. It went well with all of the aquatic decor, but I don’t think Ken would have appreciated it.  I had the foreboding feeling that Kenneth was not going to give all our security deposit back. So, we called him, soaked up the mess with diapers (great for big spills FYI) and called it a night.

Flash forward a few days later when I found that the god of Rehoboth was a benevolent being. Kenneth gave all our security deposit back, 100% of it! He actually thanked me for taking remedial action.

Vacation success! Even if we couldn’t escape our traditional mishap, this was the best beach vacay ever. It was also our first “family” trip, and one that I’ll remember forever.