Gravitational Pull
By Jeannine Patané • November 2004

    The October sun masked its descent behind the distant clouds, which softened and colored the sky. For the past three weeks, I witnessed the sunsets from the beach, and tonight was my last evening walk along the shoreline until I visit Emerald Isle again. A pod of dolphins were playing near the shore, and further along the beach at the point, a pod of surfers were taking advantage of the high tide and the full moon’s gravitational pull. I searched for the point’s beach access through the vegetation, and continued my walk inland to a quaint, A-frame beach house, with colorful sea kayaks hanging on the side of the house. Jim appeared on the deck, and I shouted out about happy hour.
    I was visiting Jim to let him know my current plans. I had initially planned to be in Florida weeks ago to help residents with the aftermath of hurricane cleanup and rebuilding, and what was supposed to be an overnight stay at my relative’s vacation home in North Carolina turned into a three-week introduction of Emerald Isle. It was an undiscovered jewel of a place. The beach is very clean considering all the various traffic it receives, and the locals get out and use the beach often. The weather allows many great kite-flying days. Surfing, kayaking and sailing are all good recreational options here as well, but what I enjoy most are the people. The folks are so supportive and hospitable. People I just met have gone out of their way to help me make contacts in both Emerald Isle and Florida. If I wanted to live one block away from the beach and work in Emerald Isle, Jim would see to it that I had a place to stay. I went to his house to tell him I’m leaving for Florida, but if the situation proved difficult for me, I’ll turn around and enjoy his house on the beach awhile.
  During my time here, I was also introduced to Bill, a retired FBI agent who now works as a private investigator. He has a deep, genuine laugh and an inquisitive way about him that makes me feel comfortable to tell him anything. He is very good at what he does, knows many people and is in the right line of work for his talents. When Bill called some of his contacts in Florida to find out about contractor work and the housing situation, his report was grim. There’s no place available for the residents to live. Every apartment, trailer or other living space was taken and there is no place for workers or construction crews. Bill believed it wouldn’t be safe for me to live in my car. Contractors were stretched thin, reporting up to two-year wait lists to fix roofs. Materials, especially roofing materials were non-existent in building supply stores. I questioned if I should even bother to go at all.
    I wondered if it was sensible for me to go down to Florida because I was worried about my impact on the area. Sometimes the best way to help is to stay out of the way—was this one of those situations? I’m a handywoman with no tools, going to a place with a stressed out infrastructure. In some areas, Florida residents have limited resources such as water, food, fuel and bathroom facilities. Do they really need one more person adding to that strain for the small amount of work I can accomplish without tools? I don’t want to be more burdensome than I can be productive. I opt to spend time where I can be of more help to society than a hindrance. It was hard for me to make a decision based on the information I received, and the thought of going to an unknown place around unknown people to do unknown work made me reluctant to leave Emerald Isle.
    Florida was my destination, and if I stopped in Emerald Isle for too long, I’d let myself down by not helping with the hurricane devastation. I wouldn’t know the impact I’d have until I go to see for myself. I set out to do something, and I can’t let fear of the unknown stop me. My inner voice was leading me in a direction and I had to listen to it. Jim listened to my explanation as we shared a bottle of wine and walked out to the beach. To sum up the reasoning of whether I should stay in Emerald Isle or continue my tour south, I referred to a fortune cookie’s slip of paper that I carried with me. It read, “Many a false step is made by standing still.”
    Jim let me know that I will always have a place to stay anytime I come back to Emerald Isle.

For more information about Emerald Isle, go to www.sunnync.com