Tourist season can be stressful. I get it. It gets hard to get around, the lines are long at the market and sometimes our visitors find themselves where they shouldn’t be. How we handle those situations, however, is the purpose of my letter.

Yesterday, I took my visiting niece, nephews and my son down to Crescent Beach for some fun. We all meandered down the shore until we were all taken aback by a stopping car and loud yell. A man began screaming at us demanding to know if we could see a sign. I answered no and looked until I saw the tip of what he must have been referring to.  Up by the road and nearly completely covered in vegetation was the tip of a notice that we were entering private property. This man proceeded to berate me about “how I WILL respect private land owners rights. Do I bleeping understand?!,” and he screamed profanities in spite of the fact that I was with young children. When I asked him to watch his language he got more enraged and told me that he’d say whatever the bleep he wanted to say on this island. We meant no harm but he wouldn’t hear it so we walked on. I was stunned by the experience and still am.

Tourists and even, as in this case, unaware islanders are part of life here.  If getting to own a beautiful piece of property that shares a coast line with a public beach comes at the cost of reminding even ten people a day of the property line then that is a small price to pay and there’s no harm in doing it with respect. It’s made me deliberately more gracious when I’m challenged by the population influx.

And to the militant guardian of the beach, I just wanted you to know that the whole experience made for a great bedtime story about a foul mouth ogre who spent his lonely days guarding his seaweed beds and trying to scare away kids.  Thanks for the laugh.

Mindy Myers

Eastsound