1984'-'86 Bald Head Island

This was an interesting and isolating time. The two brothers who own the strip mall that Surf City Surf Shop is at also own a small island called Bald Head. It's located at the southern tip of Pleasure Island but is separated by a thin ever-changing river mouth. On the other side of Bald Head is the Cape Fear River Mouth. The island's two ocean sides are a haven for sharks. There are only service vehicles allowed, so people coming over for vacation rent golf carts to get around. This gives the island a very environmentally clean aspect. There's a healthy Sea Turtle population there, but, no waves unless a hurricane is coming.

The Restaurant/Lodge at Bald Head. Yes, it was falling into the ocean. 

 Because both of the rich-from-Texas-oil brothers surfed, we became friends and they offered Mark a job as Bald Head's Food and Lodging Manager. This meant we had rent out our Wilmington house and move onto the island. We bought a golf cart that we took the governor off so it would be fast, and we put surf racks on it. Then we settled into a small two bedroom condo on the fifth hole of Bald Head's very pretty golf course. Mark played golf so he was ecstatic. Often he'd just walk out and play. I was always too much of a softball player to ever swing a golf club with good results so, Shaun and I'd just go for a walk with him and learn about nature. The first thing we learned was that Snapping Turtles are very mean! During this time both Mark and I surfed so little that a bird had built a nest between the fins of my kneeboard.

For exercise I relied on my tapes. We also bought a set of free-weights and we lifted out on the back deck overlooking the fifth hole. Once I was working out and wiped my face with a towel I left hanging across the banister over night. Within an hour I broke out with Poison Ivy. My face blew up like a huge pimple from hell. My eyes buffed up red and itchy, and my nose swelled shut. I was rushed (which is hard to do when there's a ferry involved) to the Southport Medical Center and was promptly shot up with steroids. (It was the only time I'd ever taken them. Who knew it would be this way). The Poison Ivy had gotten on the towel through smoke from a bonfire.  

The island is mostly a tourist destination. While we lived there, there weren't many people staying on it full time, so Shaun and I were pretty secluded while Mark worked. The two of us occupied ourselves with art projects, cooking and baking, walking, biking, and playing with our new inter-bred cocker spaniel puppy with no brain activities. The dog was crazy and riped the condo up constantly. We finally sold the dog to a tourist and promptly got a letter from them telling us they wanted their money back. We said no.

During this time I got pregnant with our second child. Before, when Shaun was nearly two, I had gotten pregnant and at 16 weeks I miscarried. What happened was, during the night I felt pains and started to bleed. I ran to the bathroom and when the almost five inch long dead little boy fell into the toilet I panicked. I had to bring him in when I went for an emergency check-up. They never found out why he had died. Mark went to pieces. While I was holding the boy on the way to the hospital I realized he was the same age of the baby I aborted. He had fingers, toes, and his face was forming. It was at that point I realized I had murdered. I hysterically sought God's forgiveness. God, who is the highest definition of Love, told me I had had a new beginning and that I was moving forward in grace. All would be well...Time was another word that was being defined in my ever growing spiritual philosophy.

East Beach

Grandma came to visit when I was pregnant with Sarah

When I got pregnant Bald Head Island went on the alert. The only way on or off the island was by ferry and once I was nine months everyone who worked on the island waited for the call. On July 22 Mark and I went into Wilmington to clean up our house that we had rented. The people who were living there had trashed the place. They had animals that were fed on the counters, they punched holes in the walls, tore up the carpets, and they never cleaned anything nor did yard work. We had to sue them to get repairs to the appliances done. It was sad to see what people do with the things they don't own. Anyway, Mark and I went to clean the place up and I went into labor. After a few hours we were holding our new baby Sarah. I was the happiest person on earth. I had discovered long ago that I was born to be a mother, and I was ecstatic to now have both a son and a daughter!
The Bald Head workers were relieved that we were in town when it all happened. We returned to the island with everyone coming out to see the new Bald Head local.

After I got back into shape we all took a trip to California. Mark had come into a little money and we were trying to figure out the best way to spend it. He had never passed his CPA exam but that was not because he was lazy with numbers, far from it, Mark was a wizard with the little creatures. He was also a master at being a manager. He liked being the Boss. Truth was, he knew his stuff and was making the big bucks doing it. He never faltered when it came to taking cared of his family. We were already up-and-coming. We were even getting new cars every three years!
We'd been thinking of moving out to California and figured it was a good time to check things out. While there my Grandmother came from Seattle and we all went to Baja, Mom included. My brother, Mark and I surfed K55 while Grandma and Mom watched the kids. The first thing I noticed was how Baja had changed. There were condos and houses all over the place. It was like So. Cal had moved in. There was no way to get to K35 anymore. Personally, I'd become accustomed to the wide open spaces of NC. I loved the changing seasons and the way the Atlantic gets into the 80s during the summer. I decided I didn't want to move back to Calif. and Mark was ok with that, but, we had already swallowed the idea of a change, so, when we got back from vacation we decided to open up a surf shop in Wilmington.

My brother, Mark and I getting ready to paddle out at K55

Marks brother, who we surfed with, had opened a Hot Wax Surf Shop in Atlantic Beach. When Mark and I returned to NC we started working with him to open a Hot Wax in Wilmington across the street from UNCW. (Ok, so now all you have to do is Google Hot Wax Surf Shop in Wilmington and see Mark's real name. Oopsie!) We took the inherited money ($2000) to the bank and turned it into $7000. We found an 800 sq. ft. retail space off of College Rd. and filled it with stock from Mark's brother's Hot Wax. At first surf companies like Billabong, Quicksilver and Rip Curl wouldn't sell to us because we were in competition with Surf City and two other surf shops in Wrightsville Beach. But because our surf shop was the first one in Wilmington, and we were doing pretty good sales from the get-go, it didn't take long before the big companies were knocking at our retail door.

Working on new shop. Shaun had a fort behind the door you see. Both kids went to work with us. 

Mark and I were still living on Bald Head when we opened Hot Wax so the hour drive into Wilmington every day was crazy, and then there were ferry times to deal with. After a couple of months of two-kids-in-tow commuting and having two jobs to do, Mark and I decided to leave the falling-into-the-ocean Bald Head restaurant/lodge and move back into our Wilmington house and focus completely on the surf shop. Mark also went back to shaping surfboards. To me we were on the right wave again and I was excited. I had left the bird's nest behind and waxed up!

This picture was in the newspaper as a Hot Wax Surf Shop Grand Opening thing