True Story Tuesday - Pool Etiquette

Time for True Story Tuesday! Okay, you can save the applause, even though I actually (barely) made it on TUESDAY this time! LOL

Okay. First off and foremost, I want to emphasize that this story is in no way meant to be racial, prejudiced, or anything of that nature. It is just what it is. A True Story (I am telling on a ) Tuesday.

About 5 years ago, I went to the beach with my good friend Sherri, her kids, and 3 other ladies I am also quite fond of. Sherri's boys are definitely 2 of a kind. The youngest one, especially. He was about 4, possibly 5, at the time. Can't exactly remember the year, but it is the year that Hurricane Charlie ran us out of Myrtle Beach on Friday the 13th. AND kept us from watching the Elvis tribute we paid (and lost) 40 bucks to go see and had been SOOOOO excited about. Anyway. Let me just say that being evacuated for a hurricane is an experience I do not wish to experience ever again. Good thing the storm didn't hit, because all 1,000,000 of us would have died right on the highway 15 miles out of Myrtle Beach, because that is how far we traveled in over 7 hours. 15 miles. Everyone leaving at once doesn't work so well, even will ALL 8 lanes moving North. They closed the south bound lanes and "large" vehicles traveled over there. I was actually pretty amazed at the sight of it. I also actually peed in a field with COWS in it. Yeah. I have a thing for them like I do horses. Now the saying "When Nature Calls" has a WHOLE new meaning to me. Moving on. Again.

A few days before the big evacuation, we were all lounging by the hotel pool while the kids swam. We had a great ocean front hotel, with a great pool (which I do not fully understand the necessity of) and the kids were having a blast with us catching some rays without having to worry about the waves carrying off the children to nearby states or anything.

Here comes the totally nonracial part. There was a family staying at our hotel that was apparently having a HUGE family reunion or some type of gathering. They were from some part of Africa. (Why people from Africa would come all the way to Myrtle Beach, SC for a family outing is BEYOND me.) Most of the younger family members could speak English, but the "older" ones spoke their native tongue. Wouldn't even begin to guess what it was. The following paragraphs will enlighten you as to why we didn't get to have some friendly chit chat and find out all the details.

Well, I live on the KY/WV border. Everyone else in our crew was from WV. Don't get me wrong, we have African Americans in our neck of the woods, even Mexicans and Chinese, but very few. Just how it is here. Some of our neighboring cities are much more varied in nationalities, but it was not something 4 year old Cullen was used to seeing. Especially Africans, not African Americans. I don't know if I had even saw a true African before. So I think the little fella did pretty well, considering he had NO IDEA what he was REALLY saying.

There were two little girls that really took to Cullen in the pool. (And let me just throw in that Cullen has blonde hair, blue eyes, and the whitest skin you have ever saw, so they probably thought he looked just as "funny" as he thought they did.) We had saw them earlier in the week, and had already had a "Politically Correct" talk with the gaping mouthed children on how God makes everyone different, and we would never want to hurt any ones feelings, etc, etc, etc. Well, the little girls were playing Keep Away with Cullen and his beach ball, and Cullen was losing. Terribly. He became slightly agitated, which went to furious when they started speaking a language he could not understand, (and we later found out he thought they were making fun of him, which they probably were! LOL He was flailing around the pool like a fish fighting for it's life!) so he yelled, at the TOP of his lungs, "GIVE ME MY BALL, YOU STUPID BLACK GIRLS!"

Have you ever been somewhere where over 100 people became INSTANTLY quiet? Even the ocean seemed to be still. Even the grandma's and great aunts seemed to understand. "Stupid black girls" is one of those statements that is universally understood, it seems. Everyone's eyes almost popped out of their heads, and time seemed to stand still. I was waiting for someone to attack us, or do something lethal, but everyone just sat there. Sherri reached down in one swift movement, grabbed Cullen, his goggles, his towel, etc. and we all mumbled our apologies as we (briskly) made our way to the elevator. See, Sherri's grandmother was a full blooded Cherokee Indian. Sherri has the blackest BLACK hair, VERY TAN skin, BROWN eyes, etc. Remember Cullen's description above? (He looks like his dad, by the way.) Well, I am pale as a ghost on Halloween, have blue eyes, had my hair highlighted almost completely blonde, had been at Cullen's side the ENTIRE trip. Everyone thought he was mine. Other people had even asked me about 'my son' earlier in the week. Yeah, any other time I would have giggled and cared less, or even been proud. Except the time when the African family perhaps were going to hunt us down and discuss pool etiquette.

Needless to say we danced around the sweet vacationers from Africa the rest of our trip. Don't get me wrong, they were wonderful about the incident, and no ill words were spoken (at least in English! LOL) to us, but we were trying to avoid any more "lash outs" from dear Cullen, and not hurt any more children's feelings. We were successful in that, at least! At that, my dear bloggy friends, is one of the many reasons why that particular trip was one of the most unforgettable trips I have ever been on.

Well, head on over to Rachel's blog Once Upon A Miracle to see more True Story Tuesday's or even add your own. It is kind of nice telling all these old stories!