Hilton Head, South Carolina. I've been going there off and on for the past fourteen years. It is strange and comforting to visit a place over and over again, especially in that time of your life when everything changes. When you go from being an anchorless and wayward college student with an independent streak to being a mother and wife and lover of all things quiet and cosy. When you see how timeless a place can be, with its beards of Spanish moss and gnarled trees and flat beachy expanses, when you see those things stand still, you realize how far you have travelled. And you can feel nothing but gratitude for that journey and for those who have travelled beside you those long years.
For the kids though, a new place is a new adventure. And this was a much needed adventure after all the long days of winter spent bundled up in woolies and boots.