Sitting on the dock of the bay
By James Wedgeworth on April 21st, 2010I don’t pretend to be Otis Redding, but this morning I was out on the dock reading and looking at the beautiful water and rejoicing at how grateful I am to have the opportunity to live on the water.
When we built our house on the water ten years ago, a good friend of mine said, “whatever you do, do not build a dock”. I asked him why he said that and he responded that they are maintenance nightmares. I started to think about what he said and considered not building. My two sons kept telling me that they wanted a dock.
I have lived in my home ten years and I have had $234 worth of work completed on my dock. I did notice this morning that there were a few nails popping up, but with fifteen minutes of my time and a hammer I can solve that problem. That is not exactly what I call a “maintenance nightmare”.
When I look at the fun and enjoyment that we have had on our dock it is the best investment we ever made.
I will never forget the night when my daughter was in the 10th grade and she and 8 of her friends slept on the dock – they had so much fun.
I remember when we had friends in from Texas and we shrimped off the dock – they loved it! In fact, they went and bought dry ice and took fresh shrimp back to Texas. They still talk about it to this day.
I remember the meals that we have had on the dock. I remember all the summer days when my youngest son and some of his friends would spend the whole day fishing off the dock and how excited they would be when they “caught the big one”.
I think this applies to not only docks, but almost any other amenity on Hilton Head. The reason people come to Hilton Head is to enjoy our ammenities. Sure, there is some maintenance, but I prefer to look at it from the enjoyment point of view rather than the maintenance side.