Learning to FLY…

Every day brings us a new adventure… how we receive that gift of adventure is up to us! I am choosing to be grateful and let the journey ahead allow me to fly. I am ready to soar.

I tend to take the long route at Brookgreen Gardens when I go… I sit with Pegasus for inspiration and I long for the strength that Samson shows. I stand in awe of the bronze, stone, copper that is often sealed with mortar: remnants from the past and unbelievable new pieces that represent real and make believe “fairy tale” life. The poetry on the walls that inspired me to write and guided my educational journey are extraordinary and award-winning. This all stems from a wonderful woman who believed in artists like herself and wanted to share their work. Anna Hyatt Huntington helped many people not just myself. She is an award-winning sculptor who set into motion a grand place that is.. Brookgreen Gardens.

These wonderful monuments in these spectacular gardens have been in my life for as long as I can remember. In fabulous Rankin tradition we visited Brookgreen Gardens every sunny and partly cloudy Sunday after church when we were at the beach house in North Myrtle Beach. I loved these Sundays… I got to imagine what it would be like to grow up and be an author!

We went to Brookgreen Gardens on Sunday afternoons after church as a family. This was a long ride back in the 80’s from North Myrtle Beach to right outside Murrells Inlet. We did not have all the highway and byways that we do now… so my brother, sister and I got in a lot of trouble on these rides! We got into a lot of trouble anyway… but we had a lot of fun! I would not trade anything for my brother or my sister! I got lucky!

We always stopped for food along the way, Kentucky Fried Chicken or Food Lion Deli Chicken Bucket with all the fixins, for lunch we always had a picnic. First stop was a picnic table near a pond where we would feed the ducks or the sea gulls. It just depended on which side of HWY 17 we stopped on; Huntington beach to the left or on the right Brookgreen Gardens. We occasionally stopped over at Huntington Beach and toured Atalaya before our final destination at the gardens. It was a Rankin Sunday tradition. It was something that I took for granted… I was so blessed to have that tradition.

The beautiful Huntington beach and the grand covered picnic areas that were filled with sand and gently nestled in between the dunes and tide rolling in and out give me peace when I think of them. These covered picnic areas no longer stand. I have not seen them since I was seven years old. They are a part of my long ago memories of Huntington beach. Ones that I treasure. This was when beaches were long and the spray from the ocean reached you when you got out of your car. The beach then was just that a beach.. now it is a playground a place to sell souvenirs and decks and walk ways to the beach. Amazing how things change and how everything has a price tag on it now. Daddy always said they are going to start charging you for air soon, Lisa! I mean we are paying for water- LOL in a plastic bottle!

I have visited often and walked the strand that raised me… it was helping to heal me. This was all before Daddy’s death. I have not visited Huntington since Daddy died. It is too hard for me right now. This beach was special to us; special to our Sundays. It was a tradition something that he did to teach me, guide me and show me that life, art and the outdoors should be enjoyed. It should be shared with others and stories of life and those lessons must be carried down through the generations. I will again be able to walk that sand and feel that salt on my face again, just not yet. I am not strong enough yet- I know I will feel his presence there and it will be strong!He knew I could fly and he wanted me to know it…and I do.

I recently took my niece to Brookgreen Gardens and it was wonderful to spend time with and show her where we picnicked on Sundays. The pond where the alligators were right where we ate and how we used to run through the fields. I showed her where we took all the pictures and I told her about how they had consolidated a lot of the things down from they way it was when I was a kid. I also took her to see Pegasus told her the story and we sat for a while- for inspiration. Everyone needs it- she is thirteen and this pandemic has been hard on all of us but the kids are the silent ones. So she got some inspiration. I want her to know she can FLY!! She is so talented… She missed Daddy and a lot of his lessons so I want to help pass those down for him. So every chance I get I will let her know all the things he instilled in me.

I now live less than 5 miles as the crow flies from Brookgreen Gardens. It is part of the reason I wanted to live here in Murrells Inlet. This feels like home to me- I spent my childhood here running around on Huntington Beach, sitting in the old covered picnic areas on the beach- and I spent my Sundays learning to love writers of literature that has spanned ages reading their works on chipped stone in the gardens of Brookgreen.

These poems and pieces of art that represented stories from mythology and the Bible resonated with me and sparked an interest of the written word. I have studied them, written about them and even wanted to understand why they lived the way that they did. I read everything I could get my hands on and at Brookgreen

I could be independent and read the works of Woodsworth, Henry David Thoreau, Blake, and great poets that would open my mind for so many new authors to be read. Sundays were my introverted days and I was allowed to be alone and quiet-no responsibilities. My parents recognized my love for reading and writing stories; even reading those stories for just the two of them. On these Sundays I was not the oldest I was Lisa the one who loved artists and who took notes and went to the library later that week to find the answers to those questions…

This started my love for all things books. poems and art. This tradition shaped me and gave me an outlet that brought me happiness. I now reside where I am a member and a proud resident of South Carolina. I will move forward and I will FLY..

Be Blessed. I love you all. XOXO