BAREFOOT IN BERMUDA
BY DAN MILLER
(originally posted August 8, 2005)
In the 1950s two young women known as the Bell Sisters sold a million records of a song called "Bermuda".... that nobody (except me) seems to remember.
Check it out...... simply Google "bell sisters bermuda" and you'll see that I'm telling the truth.
It was part of my parents' rather small record collection.... and it got played over and over.... so it still rattles around in my head even today.
Back then, I had no idea where, or what, Bermuda might be..... but it sounded enchanting..... and now I've seen it, and I know it is enchanting.
I just returned from Bermuda, where I gathered with family and friends for the wedding of my middle daughter Darcy and my new son-in-law Darin. (That's them dancing under the tent on the beach).
It was an adventure for all.
Karen and I had no TV in the guest cottage where we stayed, and truthfully -- and blissfully -- we lost track of all the terrible and frightening things in the world that we're all supposed to keep up with every hour of every day.
Frankly, that's a real vacation for me, setting aside newspapers, radio and TV, and just experiencing the adventure of the moment at hand.
So we didn't know Tropical Storm Harvey was on a direct path for Bermuda until literally hours before it arrived..... heck, we didn't even know Harvey existed.
Harvey turned out to be a gentle giant, even welcomed by the Bermudians, who depend of collecting rain water for their home water supply.
In fact, Thursday morning -- just after the rain stopped -- I took my six-year old right out there on the dock of the bay, watching those clouds roll away.
It was a beautiful sky to see..... with a massive circle of fast-moving clouds, mingled with rays of sunshine, accompanied by refreshing (not damaging) winds, gusting to about 60 MPH.
The storm did cause airlines to cancel or delay some flights.... and that's where the real adventure began.
My daughter Jennifer (the matron-of-honor) was stuck in London for more than 24 hours, and missed the rehearsal.
Other family members (and members of the wedding party) were stuck in Newark, N.J. ... Nashville .... Charleston, S.C., and a few other places.
But there were also "adventures" NOT storm related.
My six-year old had to go to the emergency room on the day of the wedding because of a spider bite. She's fine, and made it in plenty of time.
And I got an uncomfortable sunburn on the crown of my head, a place where -- with every passing year -- more and more skin is somehow exposed directly to the sunlight.
I mean, who even thinks about putting sunscreen on your bald (uh, thinning) spot?
In the end, the wedding ceremony was beautiful -- it went off without a hitch -- and the happy couple is honeymooning.
By the way, I looked up "adventure" in the dictionary.
One of the definitions is: "An exciting and remarkable experience."
That's what I hope for them.
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