Our week at the Little Pink Houses of Hope retreat continued. Wednesday morning, Gillian and I biked around 12-15 miles and eventually headed to the morning activity at the Western Park Community Center. The ride there was rather harrowing. We had to ride over a steep bridge to get there. I was proud that we were able to make it over the bridge without stopping. We made it to the Community Center and to the “Paint Your Heart Out” activity.
We were taught how to paint a pretty seascape. Lunch followed at the Community Center. All of the survivors were given gift baskets. It was so nice and unexpected. Gillian and I cycled back to our beach house (over the bridge again) and we waited for Christian and Charles to get back from the beach. They had gone jet skiing.
We relaxed for a couple hours and later that night we headed to the NC Aquarium. All of the Little Pink families enjoyed dinner in front of the large fish tank. We also had a private tour of the aquarium. We had a wonderful time. On the way back to the beach house, we stopped at Ben & Jerry’s for ice cream cones. All of the families received gift certificates for ice cream. Yum. Chocolate chip cookie dough on a waffle cone!!!!
Thursday started as a rainy day. The morning activity was supposed to be pier fishing followed by lunch on the pier but it was cancelled due to rain. The pier fishing was rescheduled for later in the afternoon but we had already planned to go to the movies to see “Wolverine” Thursdays lunch was sandwiches from Quiznos delivered by the Volunstars.
After we got back from the movies, we spent a little while on the beach. When we returned from the beach, Charles & I got ready for “date night”. The adults all went to Portofino‘s for dinner. Charlie & his girlfriend joined us. Jeanine showed up later. We ended up putting the tables together & shared the meal. By 8 pm, I was exhausted (as usual) . I wish I wasn’t so tired, it would have been nice to spend more time chatting with the other survivors.
The reminder of the Volunstars were with the kids. All of the kids went to MacDaddy’s for bowling and mini-golf. They had a good time. 
Charles & Gillian were really craving a good cup of coffee so we headed off to a coffee shop. There was also WiFi at the coffee shop so Gillian could download a book to read for the ride home. We did a little more sight seeing & we spent some time at the beach. We went back to our beach house & started packing up our things as we were leaving late that night instead of Saturday morning (Charles prefers driving at night).
For lunch, we headed over to the Highway 55 restaurant. The families had all received certificates for meals. We were the first family to arrive, followed by Connie & Mike & family. Connie & family, Katrina & family, & Jennifer & David & family arrived soon after. Last to arrive were Dawn & Ward & family. We ended up having a wonderful conversation with everyone. (Popsicle spritzers anyone??) We also found out that the house Jennifer & David were staying at had WiFi, so we could have hung out there with everyone else after pictures were taken. I wish I hadn’t been so tired most nights because after the activities, many of the other families spent additional time together. I would have liked to get to know everyone better. Many of the other families went to “Waterboggans” water park (we had passes to the park) but Gillian & Chris weren’t interested in going to the water park.
After lunch, we headed back to our beach house. Charles needed to nap because he had a long drive ahead. Gillian, Christian, & I headed over to the house that Jennifer & David were staying at & went swimming in the pool. Actually, I was the only one that did any swimming. Gillian & Chris spent the entire time in the jacuzzi. We spent about two hours hanging out at the pool.
We went back to our beach house & finished up our packing. Charles started putting everything in the SUV. We went next door to Will & Norma’s house to say our goodbyes. Will was a retired cop from Virginia Beach (and the former Chief of Police of the Town of Beaufort, NC). He was extremely nice to us & very helpful during our short stay. He had gotten & given me a signed book “E-Man” written by Det. Al Sheppard (retired) of the NYPD, a friend of his. We definitely would love to go back to Emerald Isle!
We drove back to the Western Regional Beach Access (late as usual) where we enjoyed a fried chicken dinner on the beach with all of the families. We had a final meeting and the survivors received a few more gifts (a pillow, a scarf with a hug from Dave, pink ribbon socks). The kids all received candy. We then took a few final group photos and hugged and kissed each other goodbye. It was a bittersweet ending to our retreat. I walked back to our SUV knowing that I would miss everyone I met during the retreat. I thought a lot about everyone during our 10 hour drive home & I wished I spent more time with everyone. Hopefully we will get together again someday and we will all be feeling great.
Jennifer said it best when she said we were a family of strangers. We came from New York, Ohio, Missouri, Florida, Virginia, and North Carolina and became family on Emerald Isle, our little slice of heaven. God Bless and God speed as all of your journeys continue.
(The majority of the photos were taken by either me or Charles. A few were taken by Sherry and other volunstars).
Thanks so much to Charlie & Jeanine & all of the volunstars and to all of the churches and businesses that contributed to our wonderful week!
If you know anyone who is going through breast cancer treatment, have them apply for a retreat at http://www.Littlepink.org. You can also make a donation, donate your beach house for a week, or volunteer.
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