38 TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | APRIL 2018
Tybee Insurance Agency Inc.
Serving Tybee Island since 1987
• Homeowner’s Insurance
• Flood Insurance
• Renter’s Insurance
• Condo Owner’s Insurance
• All Commercial Insurance
Call Carrie Traeger
204 First Street
“Mrs. Jiggs” 912-786-5541
Accountants on Tybee
Walkins Welcome!
Alfred D. Waite
CPA
Ted Lynch, ACCOUNTING & TAX SERVICE
awaite1946@aol.com
tedlynch635@hotmail.com
203 First St. Ste. E
912-786-0878
Any self-respecting Southern gentleman recalls learning the disparity
between The South and The North. This usually occurs about the same
age that we all, inevitably, learn that the term ‘social studies’ actually
relates to how people have been antisocial to one another throughout
our history.
This historical tirade has included tantrums thrown by those who seceded
from the Union, a devastating civil war, and branded our nation with a
modern day line of division separating ‘us’ from ‘them’ – the Mason-Dixon
Line. I recently found myself crossing this barrier, both figuratively and
literally, after a dozen years on the tiny hamlet of Tybee Island. Equipped
with a closet full of clothes for another climate, I made a thousand mile
trek to bless the confines of the Plymouth, NH Goodwill. My Tybee gear
should be the belle of the ball up here come spring. Never let it be said
that I’m not still doing my part for Tybee’s ‘fledgling’ tourism industry.
Undaunted by others lack of vision, absence of faith, and hampered by
the obvious limitations of biology in a life half-lived, I embarked to the
northern part of the north. This apparently was the geographic equivalent
to what scientists have deemed ‘the reach around.’ Latin = la reachus
aroundi.
Perhaps I was trying to infiltrate from within, or sneak around from the
other side? Nevertheless, there are some definite differences in the
temperatures, and the people have all been nice, like Tybee - but with more
layers of clothing. No undressing of one of the natives has commenced to
date, but scientifically speaking, they appear to be comparable to those
adjacent to Tybee (although much paler). Details to follow, TBD. (Adjacent
to Tybee, as no other place or people are comparable.)
After a dozen years on Tybee, there’s certainly something to be said for
low humidity. In exchange for mild summers, I arrived to three nor’easters
in three weeks. For those unfamiliar, imagine a hurricane, with snow,
while simultaneously being able to count the times on your fingers the
temperature was above freezing – over three weeks. It’s not all sinew
and gnashing of teeth, however. It’s a bit like The Revenant with beer
and college girls. Half-time, hippie parents each working as full-time
entrepreneurs – and a Subaru in every driveway. I’ve truly stumbled into
a mountain oasis, akin to the northern peaks of Tybee, like one of the
dream episodes of Northern Exposure. Suffice to say though, my flip flops
have definitely been returned to ‘seasonal apparel.’
Each month, from my new perch high in the Great North Woods, I’ll be
continuing to correspond with the greatest readers in the world. It’ll be
my usual take on ‘the new usual’ – a world that isn’t Tybee, as witnessed
by a local expat. When someone asked me recently why I chose to move
a thousand miles away from everyone and everything I ever knew, my
experience was, as follows: “Simple enough, really... It’s a thousand miles
away.” That is not to say that I won’t miss the Island, far from it. Rather,
once one has viewed life on Tybee time, there really is no unseeing it any
other way...
Smith Tile would like to give a shout
out to Hotel Tybee and Brett Loehr, General
Manager! Thank you for hiring local to
renovate all the bathrooms in Hotel Tybee!
That job kept a lot of Tybee people busy all
winter and we appreciate it!!
Call Smith Tile for ALL of your Tile
needs: 912-313-5590
From the Great
North Woods
By Woody Hemphill
link
link
/www.tybeemarketiga.com