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News of a tragic fire last Sunday which killed 7 college students in a beach house at Ocean Isle, NC was devastating. We have been to this family beach so many times over the years. In October 2003 we celebrated our 50th anniversary there with family and friends and stayed in a rental house that looked much like the one that was burned. I do remember checking the smoke detectors before going to bed on the 3rd floor. We probably had about 20 people staying there, including lots of kids.
We went to Ocean Isle in November 2000 to celebrate my younger sister Carolyn's 50th birthday. She was the 7th person in our family to turn 50. We sent Carolyn and her husband Dave away from the house while we decorated and got ready for the party. They were to return at 2 p.m. for the party. In the meantime we got busy decorating, etc. and getting the food ready, making a birthday cake which was a mud cake with worms (not really) which the kids got a kick out of. I made Jim
an Elvis outfit to wear and he was going to come to the front door and serenade Carolyn. Things were going along as planned and it was getting close to time for the party. We sent Jim to the back of the house, on ground level, to wait for Carolyn to arrive, etc. Everyone was gathered in the big living room area waiting for her to arrive.
The doorbell rang and one of the little girls answered the door and ran back into the room and said there was a "crazy" lady outside.
One of the adults went to the door and this really wierd old lady was acting strange and insisted on coming in to see what was going on. She was very aggressive and pushed her way into the room. We were all so startled and didn't know what to say to her. In the meantime, Jim came to the front door and rang the bell, and was ready to serenade Carolyn. Well, the old lady rushed to answer the door and you should have seen Jim's face when she answered the door. He just stood there looking at her and she told him to come on inside. The kids were all hiding behind furniture, etc. and peeping around corners, etc.
Carolyn realized she was scaring them so she pulled off her long gray hair and wrinkled mask. Everybody had a good laughed. The joke was on us - not her. I don't remember if Elvis (Jim) ever got around to singing or not, we were all laughing so hard. We always have a good time when we have family gatherings like this.
Once Carolyn removed her crazy ole' lady mask, everybody relaxed.
Then Elvis began to serenade her and everybody joined in the fun.
Our last big family gathering was James' 50th birthday at Thanksgiving last year, 2006, when many of the family gathered in Elba for his party. We gather for special birthdays, weddings, graduations, and other special times. Next summer we will be celebrating Bill Gilmer's and Cindy Gilmer's 50th birthdays (date to be determined) and Ron and Cindy's 30th anniversary which is in August.
