Ocean Isle Beach

The annual Venablecon is always held at Ocean Isle Beach. I've been going there annually since I was in high school. Thinking of that tiny little island never fails to bring a smile to my face and warm feeling to my heart.

And it's population currently is hovering around 0, because as of 5 PM tonight it's under a mandatory evacuation in the face of Hurricane Florence. Selfishly, I hope my family has a vacation house to return to next summer. But mostly, I hope all citizens along the coast are safe and dry in the coming days, and the damage sustained to their belongings is minimal.

The last day we spent on Ocean Isle in July, a bunch of us piled into the Benny-van and took a quick trip to the touristy surf shop to buy souvenirs. I had picked out a pretty sundress (a bargain at $10) and then spied a rack of neon yellow capri sweatpants, all emblazoned with "Ocean Isle Beach" on the left leg in various fonts. Another bargain at $4, I selected a pair for purchase and rejoined the family at the checkout. Spying my Ocean Isle pants, Mother deemed them "cute," and went to find a pair for herself to buy, but decided on a different font than the one I had selected.

Once home, I threw my pair in a load of laundry, and folded them and put them away in my chest of drawers. A few days later, I put them on and went to watch a little TV, when I noticed that the decal had lifted a bit from the fabric and was flapping around. Absentmindedly, I started picking at it. And kept picking. And picking. I'd tell myself to stop occasionally, and I would.... for a minute. But after awhile.....

this happened

After awhile, I just gave up and kept picking. Which led to this text convo, complete with pictures and illustrations, with my mother:

Today, my mother texted me to say that she was wearing her OIB pants in solidarity and in support of Ocean Isle Beach. Peace and grace, and hopefully many more years of Venablecon memories.