Where the Crawdads Sing
Crazy day today. I went to see the movie, Where the Crawdads Sing,with Nik and a friend in the theater. I still get a little nervous going to the theater with Covid but I have missed the experience. We have a theater in Chapel Hill that serves fancy food and has lounge chairs. It makes the experience even better.
This movie is based on a book by the same title and is set in NC. I read it when it first came out and sobbed throughout reading it. I identified so much with the character. She is called The Marsh Girl, because she lives by the water, completely self-sufficient. It reminds me of my time on Orr’s Island, off the coast of Maine with Tiffany when we were in our early dating years in high school. Her mom was not letting us see each other outside of school. We got around that by visiting her dad, since they were divorced. Tif’s mom couldn’t prevent Tiffany from seeing her dad and he was more than happy to make her mom angry.
This is the fire pit at Tif’s Dad’s house on Orr’s Island. Sadly he passed away a few years ago.
We spent a beautiful summer there between our Junior and Senior year of high school working at the local gift shop, Land’s End (different from the clothing company). It was literally at the end of the island and we would work at the cash register or help one of the owners make fudge for the tourists. It was heavenly. I would wake up early and run from one end of the island to the other. Tif’s dad’s house had views of the ocean on both sides. You could see the sun rise from one side and set from the other. He inherited the house from his parents. His mother, Marge actually lived in the in-law apartment attached to the house. Marge, Tif’s dad’s partner, Cheryl and I would have drinks (I had coffee because I did not drink at that time) most evenings, watching the sunset. We would get clams and lobsters from the local fishermen and have clambakes. Our days off were lazy days looking for sea life on the rocky coast or reading to the sounds of the waves crashing.. They are some of my favorite memories. I love the ocean so much and last year when Nik and I rented an entire island off the coast of NC for my birthday, it felt very similar to my childhood memories. I feel at home by the sea.
Lands End Gift Shop - Google Search
Actual pictures of the view from Tif’s dad’s house on Orrs, and then Me and Nina on our private island last year….
One part of the movie/book the main character is proposed to in front of geese and she says she doesn’t want to get married but they can be together like geese, because geese mate for life. Well, when Tiffany proposed to me in front of the Androscoggin River in Auburn, Maine, she said the same thing to me. There were ducks walking around and she said “Ducks mate for life”. It was on my 18th birthday. Every birthday is bittersweet, remembering that romantic proposal. I actually contacted her last year when Nik and I were on that island off the coast of NC, letting her know I was thinking of her. So you see, this movie/book really felt like it was telling my story. I hope someday I can have my book published so more people can read about our love story.
The movie really depicted the book well. I met a new friend at the cinema (I embarrass Nik so much with my talkative self). My Grandaddy Perkins was always making friends when he went out for errands. No one was a stranger and my brothers and I have inherited this trait. An elderly white woman was sitting alone a couple seats down from me and she commented on my singing voice. I was singing along to some commercial, as I do. I asked her if she had read the book and she said not only had she read the book but she had already seen the movie yesterday. She told me I would love the music and the artwork. She was right. We actually exchanged numbers and had a lovely talk after the movie. I am finding I need to just go with the synchronicity of life sometimes.
