A Journey to Charleston

Well, so this is overdue. I went to Charleston June 7-10 with my mom, and we met Megan and her parents there. It was our celebration of our first anniversary which was actually June 3rd. So, what happened?

We got there around 5:30pm, went to dinner at the Charleston Crab House downtown, drove around to find different views of this big bridge, got stuck waiting on this train that went forward and backward for at least a half hour. By the time we got back to the hotel, it was late, everyone was tired, and Megan's parents decided that we could only have fifteen minutes to exchange gifts. We were both really irritated at this, but we managed, although the time limit made the evening far short of romantic. I gave her the doll that she knew I ordered for her, as well as a bound copy of all of my prose and poetry, which ended up being almost 200 pages. I had also written a song for her, which was a musical setting of "Acquainted with the Night" by Robert Frost, but of course, I didn't have enough time to give that to her. She gave me an updated copy of her journal, and a blue afghan that she crocheted for me. There was also a gift that she didn't bring because she knew we wouldn't be allowed enough time to enjoy it. It was black raspberry martini mix and ginger ale with real martini glasses. So, after that, we went to bed.

Next day was Friday, and we started the day by going to Folly Beach. We spent the morning there. There weren't many people on the beach, and Megan and I went off by ourselves on a walk down the beach, and just enjoyed the first real time we had to ourselves in a long time. It was also nice to get to kiss her and hug her while we were away from the parental units. We eventually returned to the towels and umbrella, and our parents weren't there, so we exchanged back massages, which we had both missed dearly. Then our parents came back, and we decided to leave. We stopped for lunch on the way back to the hotel, showered and changed, and then took off for the slave market downtown. We traipsed around for a while. I pretty much just followed Megan everywhere and didn't buy anything except a bottle of water. I also got to try some Italian ice cream, whatever that stuff is called. Gelato, Megan tells me as I read this to her over the phone. We then decided that we had time for a carriage ride, so we went on that, and near the end, I was afraid we would be late for our dinner reservations, and we almost had to run to get there on time. This dinner was for just Megan and me. We ate at Poogan's Porch, which was basically a house that had been turned into a restaurant. It was pretty nice, although the flies were fairly ravenous that evening. The food wasn't bad, but my chicken had too much pesto in it. But the best part about it wasn't where we were. We could have been at a crowded McDonald's, and I wouldn't have cared. The most important part was being with Megan. After dinner, we met up with her parents again, returned to the hotel. I got to sing and play that song I wrote for her, and then we decided to all get together and watch "Arsenic and Old Lace". Megan and I had a bed to ourselves and we cuddled the whole time. It was wonderful because I had wanted to do that for so long and never could.

The next day was Wednesday (just kidding, it was Saturday), and we started the day by driving out to the Magnolia plantation. While waiting for our house tour to begin, we toured a few of the smaller gardens, combating cobwebs and strange, floating worms along the way. The house tour was interesting enough, and then we moved on to the largest garden. The parents were tired and didn't want to walk the whole thing, and so Megan and I hung back to decide what we wanted to do. We decided that if we wanted to have time to go to the Tanger outlets, we would have to leave now. So we did, and followed down the path that led out, and that required me to exorcise the path of a large, demonic spider that Megan almost walked into. Next stop: USS Yorktown, a WWII aircraft carrier. Pretty cool stuff, needs air conditioning though. And to think, the USS Nimitz class carriers are twice the size of that ship. After that, we got on the ferry to go to Fort Sumter (which, I'm going to say here just to irritate my audience, was the South's first blunder of the war). It was a long, hot ride over there, which was made worse by the fact that someone had the bright idea that everyone on the ferry, including the deaf and the dead, wanted to hear a history lesson about Fort Sumter and the surrounding area. We got there, set off on our own for an hour, took some pictures, etc., got back on the ferry, returned to the dock, and left for Hyman's Seafood for an early dinner. Because we got there around 4pm, we didn't have to wait, but by the time we left, there was a huge line. Next, we went to the Tanger outlets, where I actually bought some stuff from the Borders outlet. I also got some clothes and sandals from Timberland, which Megan despised. Megan was in somewhat of a depressed mood, because our time together was running out. When we returned to the hotel, I followed her up the stairs, but she went into her room without saying anything to me. I called her later and asked her if she would talk to me. She said she'd think about it. My mom went to Hardee's because she really wanted ice cream. Later, Megan's parents discovered a Coldstone's and went there to get us some ice cream. Megan and I met outside to talk. It was nice just to stand on the balcony and put my arms around her and hold her close. When her parents came back, we continued to stay outside to eat our ice cream. Eventually, we decided that we would go in before they asked us to, so that our parting could be on our terms and not theirs.

Next morning, we slept in a bit, went to breakfast at Cracker Barrel, and then took off. They were behind us all the way to I-95, and there they continued on I-26 while we took 95. We waved at that point, but I don't think they saw us.

In conclusion, I must disagree with Shakespeare on something. There is nothing sweet about parting. It is only sorrow. But I will get to see her again in July, although I will have to drive up there, since her mom doesn't want her to come down here.