Just a day at the beach.

A few weeks ago Andy and I met a new friend who had only been in the Grand Rapids area for a month. Over dinner last week he mentioned that he had never been to any of our beaches on Lake Michigan. What? Obviously we knew the situation had to be remedied at the earliest opportunity, and, after a quick check of the forecast, we settled on Sunday as Nick's introduction to the big Lake.

We set off Sunday on the forty five minute drive to Grand Haven, one of my favorite beaches since childhood. It was looking like a perfect day with a high of eighty and not a cloud in the sky. As we got close to the lakeshore we realized that we weren't the only ones with the beach idea that day. The traffic stretched for miles and there wasn't a parking spot to be found! Our forty five minute drive took us two hours. Of course, by this time my bladder was about to burst! Andy dropped me off at the entrance to the State Park while he and Nick continued the hunt for parking.

A full thirty minutes later they returned to the beach and we set off for the sand.

Nick went to grab a bite to eat while Andy and I got settled. We had picked up a beach chair for me so that I wouldn't have to try to get up from way down on the ground, something which is becoming increasingly difficult.

We weren't on the beach for ten minutes before things got interesting. One moment Andy and I were chatting, the next I was pouring sweat, dizzy, nauseous, and everything around me looked very far away. I couldn't believe how quickly it had happened! As if from the end of a long tunnel I heard Andy's voice asking if I were okay and what he could do for me. I could barely speak and really didn't know what I needed so I waved him away and flopped myself out of the beach chair and onto the sand, curled up on my side. After a minute or two, Andy half walked, half carried me up to the pavilion with the restrooms, where I clung to the door jamb trying not to lose consciousness before a stall became vacant. Finally, after sitting on the toilet with my head between my legs (as far as my head will go with the giant belly obstruction anyway) the swimmy, far away feeling began to subside and I felt well enough to stand.

I had a similar experience during my 17 week ultrasound and the tech said that it was because the babies were big enough that they were cutting off my circulation when I was too long reclined on my back. I suppose that this time the combination of my reclined position, the heat, the walk to the shore and a relatively light food day had conspired against me and caused the dizzy spell.

The guys graciously agreed to vacate our position on the hip part of the beach and join me further up where the elderly (and us) huddled beneath shade trees as if a single ray of sun may burn like acid. Despite the loss of cool points the guys made the most of it and swam, threw the football, and walked down to the lighthouse while I stayed grounded like the proverbial beached whale. You can see from the picture below that the lighthouse is quite a hike.

Near the time when we were getting ready to leave I felt a stinging in my left ankle. It reminded me of the dreaded fire ant bites I used to get while mowing the lawn when I lived in Texas. I reached down, ready to swat away an offending insect, and instead of a bug found only a massive lump of flesh where once an ankle had been!

All in all, it turned out to be a wonderful day, but sadly, the swollen ankles seem to be here to stay.