After my bout with whatever it was that kicked my butt last week, I woke up on Saturday feeling pretty good. About halfway through the day, however, I noticed a vague achy feeling in my mid to lower back. "This can't be good," I thought, fixed myself a LARGE glass of water (the first of several) and took a couple of Advil. By the time DSD and his little man returned from their manly day in the woods (scratching, spitting and farting, according to them), I was feeling fine. So, after dinner I had a couple of cocktails (yea, yea, that was dumb). I woke up Sunday morning sometime before 3:30AM (I know this because I actually got up at 3:30AM) with some pretty bad pain in the same area that had been achy on Saturday.
Hello Kidneys! Great to see you. Thanks for being there.
Plenty of water, pain meds, cranberry juice throughout Sunday, a trip to the doctor on Monday (I really do NOT like the Nurse Practitioner they have hired up there, and I will not be seeing her in the future. But that is a subject for another post), antibiotics, more water, very little caffiene and I was feeling pretty good Monday night.
Until the invasion. Or what sounded like an invasion.
Here is the letter I wrote yesterday to the local newspaper. I honestly don't know how I was coherant enough to string words together. Lucky for me there is an editor (Doctor of English, you know) on staff here. He made it make sense.
As I was lying in bed about to doze off at approximately 10:30 PM on
Monday, March 3, 2008, imagine my shock at hearing very loud, very disruptive
noises. The first second or two I thought it was thunder, and then I
realized it sounded like firecrackers. At this point I was completely
awake, and the noise was so close that I was concerned my neighbors were going
to set my house on fire.
I got out of bed, went into the back yard,
and realized these were not firecrackers: these were BIG fireworks, being set
off several miles down the beach. Thinking that this was not legal, I
called the Panama City Beach Police Department. The nice dispatcher
explained that they already had an officer at the SandPiper and that the
fireworks were completely legal, since the SandPiper had a permit. The fireworks
lasted only 10–15 minutes, but that was long enough to disrupt my sleep cycle
and ensure that I did not get to sleep until after midnight.
I am appalled.
I understand that Spring Break 2008 has officially
kicked off. I am not one of those who believe that the Beach would be
better off without Spring Breakers. These college students come to town
and spend a lot of money — which this economy needs. I am prepared for
them to block aisles in grocery stores, to embarrass themselves publicly, and to
cause traffic jams on Front Beach Road. I am prepared to wait until April
to eat out at any of the Beach restaurants again. I am not prepared,
however, for the businesses on Panama City Beach to completely disregard the
basic needs of residents of our fine town to cater to the Spring Breakers — not
when such disregard spills over into and disrupts our lives.
I am not against fireworks. I love fireworks. I do not, however,
understand why they must be ignited at 10:30 PM. It is completely dark by
7:00 PM. Why can’t the display begin at 8:00? That would allow the
Spring Breakers to watch the fireworks after they watch the sunset, and before
they head to dinner or the bars or to drive up and down Front Beach Road.
That would allow the residents to sleep.
I live here 365 days a year. I pay taxes 365 days a year. I support the local restaurants, shops, etc., long after the Spring Breakers head back to school. And while I do not, personally, stay in local hotels, I do have family and friends who
visit and need some place to stay. They rely heavily on my
recommendations. Guess where I won’t be sending them?
This is going to be a long 6 weeks! (But I am probably more hydrated than I have ever been in my entire life!)
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