My sister Bonita is moving in with me.  Mama called me last night and asked me if she could move down here with me since she is now 19 and needs to get out on her own but it is so expensive in Virginia that she can’t afford a place of her own.  I know the truth though.  Mama wants her here with me so I can keep an eye on her.  That’s okay because Bonita and I have always been very close.  Besides, she can help me out with the expenses this winter when she gets a job.  It will be good for both of us because we will be helping each other.

I have lots of friends around here that would give her a job so it won’t be hard for her to find work.  She could work at one of the restaurants here or even maybe get a job answering the phone for one of my real estate friends with their company.  I’ll have to do some calling tomorrow to see if I can get her some interviews when she gets here this weekend.

Nearing the end of October, business around here always slows down through the week especially.  The fishermen do come on the weekends and sometimes bring their families but most of the time they don’t because all there is to do here now basically is fish.  The kids that are still young like to come and play on the beach or even fish but once they become teenagers, they usually don’t care to come this time of year.

So by now, I close my shop early through the week and am closed on Sundays altogether.  Friday and Saturday are the only two days I get much business so starting next weekend, I’ll be closed through the week and only open Friday and Saturday.  It won’t be long before I’ll close the shop for the winter.  I’ll have to be careful with my savings this winter because I wasn’t able to put back as much as I usually do for the winter.

The economy hasn’t been very good this year, all year.  I’ll just be glad when the presidential voting is over so the country can breathe again.  Please make sure to vote.  It’s so very important this year especially.

I just had to tell you about last night.  Antonio and I met at the seafood restaurant at 7:00.  He told me to order anything I wanted.  I let him order first so I could see what he was having and he ordered Lobster.  I love Lobster so I also ordered Lobster.  The first thing that popped into my head was the scene from ‘Flash dance’ where they go out to eat Lobster and her eating is very sexy.  No I didn’t do that.  After all, I just met him.

We talked for hours again and had no idea what time it was when they told us they were closing in 30 minutes.  We had sat there and talked for over 3 hours.  It was almost like finding an old friend again and there being so much to catch up on.  I can’t explain it but there is a connection between us.  He felt it too.  I gave him my cell number and told him to call me sometime.  This could be the beginning of either a great friendship or something much more special.  We shall see.

It was an absolutely beautiful day here.  The sun was shining, the temperature was in the mid 70′s with a nice breeze blowing in off the ocean and I was just enjoying the day when up walked this guy,  He told me his name was Antonio.  He was very handsome, very handsome.  I knew he was also Spanish by his eyes and his dark complexion.

He told me he was Cuban and his father had come to America when he was 20 years old.  He then told me that his mother was Puerto Rican and he was home from Iraq.  He is a Marine.  I stood there imagining him in his dress blues and knew that he would be the most handsome Marine I had ever seen in them.  I almost felt stupid standing there looking at him with what was probably a dumb look on my face.

I then started telling him about myself, that I too was Cuban.  We talked for hours on the beach.  He actually grew up about 35 miles from here and would come back home when he finished his tour in a couple more months.  He asked if we could have dinner tonight and I just can’t wait.  I’m meeting him at a local seafood restaurant in an hour so I got to go finish getting ready.

This is going to end up to be a great weekend for all the local businesses.  The fisherman and their families have come and are still coming, the fish are biting and there are a lot of people down here now for this to be a Thursday and not a Friday.  Even more have reservations at local motels and homes that rent to people who come to the beach to come tomorrow.  I was so surprised to hear that from a local friend in real estate.  We all really needed this.  All of the shops have a lot of big sales going on anyway hoping to recoup from the lack of business this summer and this weekend looks so promising.

I do love this little family beach I live at.  I love the local people and enjoy meeting all the interesting people that come through here over the summer.  I was even beginning to wonder if I was going to be able to hang on to my little shop but things are definitely looking up.  Oh we won’t make nothing like we usually do but at least we are more likely to be able to hang on until next summer if the fish keep biting and the fishermen keep coming.  The weather is even working with us, imagine that.