MY KAHLUA

It all began in 1978. We visited Ft. Myers Beach, stayed in a beach front studio, swam in the pool, collected shells and battled waves. The day before we left Chip, our youngest, found an early morning message written in shells at the doorway, “Bye Chip, I’ll miss you,” a good bye message from a friend of two days Chip had made on the beach. That farewell was only the beginnings of a close and lasting connection our family of four forged every spring with our favorite crescent island facing the Gulf.

That fall a Michigan neighbor showed us pictures of something he called a “time share,” a renovated and redecorated motel where you could buy weeks, share maintenance and upkeep, and, most importantly, secure a place to stay every year at the same time. But the real selling point for us: the pictures were of a new time share in Ft. Myers Beach called Kahlua Beach Club. kahluabeachclub.comWe bought three weeks long distance.

My Kahlua is wreathed in families, nestled in the middle of the crescent. We see them every spring, rekindle friendships, refresh our lives and renew our love of shrimp, sunset and surf. My children found first loves as teenagers, invited best friends from home, and later shared springtime with new spouses at Kahlua. Now my grandchildren slather suntan lotion, read books on the pool’s edge, and fly through freewheeling, foaming waves.

Kahlua has become more that an April place of respite. It is a balmy belonging. I hear echoes in the pool as a sister admonishes her older sister, “Every time I try to talk to you, you’re underwater.” Did my daughter Beth ever admonish Chip that way? I hear the shuffle board swish and rattle and remember “The Tournament,” twenty three years ago. Chip and his buddy, Rob, won the trophy from two senior owners. One of those owner’s three sons now have a family reunion here every spring. I remember as Beth and her dad head into the waves, now I see my son-in-law and granddaughter head into the waves. My Kahlua holds me, molds me and keeps me.