A couple of weeks ago my mom came into town to work on the wedding, and she brought with her an album of my old baby/childhood pictures.  (We will have some cute baby pictures of Dave and myself up at the wedding.)  We looked through the box at the various photos and I found the photograph of myself and my Ghost Friend.

Did I ever tell you that story?  Here is how it goes:

My family went to Myrtle Beach EVERY SUMMER of my childhood and onward. When I was 6 or 7 years old I made a friend at the hotel pool. We would swim and wander around and generally goof off together.

One day we were all down at the ocean “catching waves.” She and I would grab the floaties around our middles and wait on a wave to catch up to us, when we would LEAP into the air and ride it into the shore.

I was telling her a story and not paying attention to the waves when she YELPED and I turned around and was tumbled end over end by a gigantic wave. I remember being afraid and feeling like I had been underwater for a VERY long time. I couldn’t get my bearings, but could see light/dark/light/dark.

When I finally got up out from underneath the water I ran to the shore and started looking for my friend.

She was not there.

I ran over to where her mom had been set up with their coolers, umbrellas, beach chairs, towels, etc. And there was no trace of any of them.

I looked for her for forever and looked for her for the rest of our visit, and even in future summers when we went back, but I never saw her again.  But we still have that photograph…