I'm back from N.C. !

I didn't find out til the last minute that I wouldn't be back until Tuesday, so I arranged for Dad to watch the kids for me.

Anyway, this trip was really a week long vacation for my Dad's sister Nancy and her family. Grandma and Grandpa invited themselves along, and they invited me. My cousin Jennifer and her boyfriend Greg were going as well, and I rode with them. They're about 18 I think. Greg and Jen are supposedly engaged, but according to Nancy it's going to be a loooooooooong engagment. She doesn't want Jen making the mistake of getting married that young.

Nancy also doesn't think to highly of Greg. From what I heard, most of the family doesn't care much for him either, but I found him to be a nice, funny guy. Maybe it's just because I'm looking at it from a 'youngins' viewpoint.

It was an 8 hour drive, but we only drove half of it on Friday, stopping at a hotel along the way. At around noon Saturday, we arrived in Topsail Island, N.C. The place we stayed out was really an ocean-side apartment complex that rented rooms out.

I had only packed for a couple of days so Nancy took me shopping. I didn't have much money so she bought me a nice pair of beach pants and some sandles. I remember at one point she pointed out some short-shorts that said 'Kiss Me' on the back and said I would look cute in those. Cool girl.

That night I bent my No Drinking to Excess rule with a few margaritas and a whole lot of Scotch. Still loaded, Jen, Greg, and I went out on the town, doing a little shopping and what not. I bought some cute earrings that I'm still wearing now.

I also seem to recall I was totally in girly mode with my mannerisms and everything, but since Jen knows about me and probably Greg, they were totally accepting.

The next day, after I recovered from vomitting my guts up, everyone wanted to hit the beach of course. Now I haven't been in the water for years. It had been a while even before I started hormones. But I went down to the beach, long sleeves and pants and all. I definitely felt ridiculous so eventually I broke and changed into some shorts and got in the water.

I kept a short sleeve shirt on though. God I felt so stupid, but I wasn't about to go topless and I'm sure as heck not ready for a bathing suit yet, so a T-shirt it was. Let's not even get into how much I kept adjusting it and folding my arms over my chest.

That water was great for my skin though. It was like a full body facial- I had a Just Fucked glow the next few days without the Fuck.

(Hiya Mom)

Seriously though, I think I looked better than I had in years. When I went out to eat with the family, the guys all got 'Sir', while I got Darlin', Sweetie, and Hun like the rest of the girls. Made me feel a bit giddy.

Your last night somewhere always seems to be the best, and this time was no exception. On Monday Jen, Greg, and I headed down to the pier that stretched a few hundred yards into the water. There was a $1 dollar fee though that we complained about, right up until we got to the end of the pier.

The view was spectacular, and we agreed it was definitely worth it. The rising moon was directly in front of us, rising over the water, leaving a sparkling trail of light across the dark surface that stretched towards us like a golded road. There weren't any stars out, but a little to the left of the moon was a bright red light that I realized was Mars. I remembered reading an article that said it would be the closest to Earth in August than it has been for thousands of years.

We stayed there for a long time admiring the view and eavesdropping on the people next to us. There were about three elderly woman fishing, drinking beer while they complained that their children didn't appreciate them anymore. A bunch of funny tales were being told that had us silently cracking up.

As we were leaving, one of the women got a bite. When she pulled it up, it turned out to be a 10 inch long shark. Taking the hook out, she let us pet it before she threw it back. I had never touched a shark before and found the sensation pretty cool. The skin was like rough sandpaper, except for the belly which was a bit softer than a cats tongue.

Deciding that it was late, we started to head back. Halfway along the pier though, we passed another fisherman who had just gotten a bite. He handed the pole to Greg and told him to reel it in. While Greg was doing that, the fisherman grabbed the line itself and started hauling up his catch. It turned out to be a stingray, which he dumped onto the wooden floor of the pier.

Unfortunatly, he decided to keep it so went about preparing it by taking off the hook and cutting off it's tail. I felt so bad for the little critter, but paid attention in morbid fascination as he pointed out the stinger on the tail and explained how one prick with that would send you to the ER.

As it sat gasping, I knelt down and pet it softly, as if that simple gesture would somehow soothe it's butchering and slow suffocation. It was a lot smoother than the shark, almost slimy. After a few more minutes, we left and headed back to the room.

The next afternoon I headed back home with Jen and Greg. Grandma and Grandpa had left early that morning, and Nancy would be staying until Saturday. And now I'm back. There's a few other things going on of importance, but I'm tired and willl leave them for tomorrow.

Good to be back. Hmm, well, not that great.