The Soundtrack Of My Summer: Track 1

First of all.... I am officially the WORST blogger ever. I can't believe it's been over a month since my last post. I started this blog so that I could post things about my summer and things I've done but I guess I was too busy running around doing all of those things to take time to write about them.
Anyway, I could make excuses all day long. However, that is not the purpose of this post.

What is the purpose of this post you ask? I'm not really sure just yet. All I know is that I titled it "The Soundtrack Of My Summer" because a song from way back in middle school was stuck in my head earlier and those words are part of the lyrics (If you're wondering... the song is "Thunder" by Boys Like Girls). It's about a summer romance or something, which is not what I'm writing about. But I decided to use the metaphor to explain the elements that made up my summer. In other words I'm calling the things I did and the people I spent time with the "soundtrack" of my summer. They were the theme behind it all and without them my summer would have been quiet, boring, and empty.

Track 1 of The Soundtrack of My Summer:

So. I'd have to say that the majority of my summer was spent at work. Sounds awful right? Wrong. Yes, it would have been awful if I was cooped up inside some building five days a week, being forced to serve large amounts of happy vacationers (which can be torturous when you know they've been playing at the beach all day and you have no time to do such a thing). It would have been awful to never see the beach and never get a whiff of that warm, thick salty air.

Fortunately, after spending nine months in the mountains of Utah (don't get me wrong, I love Utah and the climate there, it's just a lot different from home) I got to come home to beautiful Orange Beach, AL and work... at the beach!

In my natural habitat 

Some Suncoast lounges and umbrellas 

Posing in the cushion box after wrapping umbrellas!

Somebody snapped a picture of me carrying a few cushions!

Beach service was not a job I expected to enjoy as much as I did. I really just wanted a job that would make the summer go by quickly (be careful what you wish for right?) so that I could be back at BYU with my friends. But working for Suncoast taught me a lot of things, some useful for life away from the beach, some not.
What I learned:
1. It is possible to get eight hours of sleep when you really need it in order to function the next morning. It's easy when you're not living in a dorm with your friends.
2. If you live in a crowded summer vacation destination, appreciate those early mornings when nobody else is on the road.
3. I can last longer out in the heat and humidity than I once thought possible. The quote "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" now means a lot to me.
4. I will never take where I live for granted. People spend a lot of money to come down here for a week and I got to enjoy the beach all summer, even if it was for work.
5. Attitude is everything. Those mornings when I really just wanted to be in bed were the mornings when everything went wrong. People approached me (that was wrong), there was a chip bag in the sand (that was definitely wrong especially since I was the one picking it up), the sun was shining (that was both wrong and annoying), people paid me in huge bills and I never had change (that was a nuisance), etc., etc.....
6. Take every chance you are given to get to know people. You never know what you can learn from others (keep reading my blog to "meet" some of these people in my next few posts). And with that being said...
7. Also take every chance given to do something kind for another person. You never know who you can have an impact on.
8. Accept milkshakes from strangers when they assure you that they did not put liquor in them. Some people really do like doing nice things for sweaty, tired people working at the beach.
9. ALWAYS cut your peach before eating it. Yes, eating it like an apple seems normal. Sticky peach juice running down your face is not normal. And ants seem to have an amazing sense of smell.
10. Do things right the first time. People will appreciate your hard work and maybe even compliment you on it. And who doesn't like a compliment?
11. Thunderstorms pop out of nowhere! Download a reliable radar app.
12. Part of the job is to rake seaweed and bury it... Never would have guessed.

Ok now that this post is becoming just excessive enough I will leave you with this:

There are people we need to meet and lessons we need to learn. And that is why we end up in certain places at certain times in our lives.

That's my opinion anyway.

To be continued..... 


- Caroline

Keep an eye out for my next post "Track 2" (name is subject to change due to a strong case of indecision)