The greatest Christmas ‘presence’ found in the Lowcountry waterways and pluff mud

2020. It just sounds weird.

I know it is only a number but, to be frank, I never thought I would make it this far.

Trying to get a handle on this number, I tried to think of phrases or whatever using 2020 and only one came to mind: 20/20 vision, meaning perfect eyesight. Having had a recent visit to get my eyes checked, I believe my number was 20/40. I never thought I was perfect and this simply verified that fact.

I don’t know about you, but I had one of the best Christmases ever. My wife, Karen, left a few days before the big day to spend time with her folks in Houston; my daughter Camden took her brood to Costa Rica for the holiday week; and my son, Logan, who lives in Los Angeles had other plans so it was just me and my beagle, Butterbean.

Butterbean is great company but it isn’t like she would put up a stocking for me or put on some soft Christmas music when I woke up that morning, so I was feeling a tad lonely. No Santa this year.

But Christmas miracles do occur because on Christmas Eve there was a knock on the door and it was my sister Grace who lives in Melbourne, Florida, and my niece Ali who lives in Costa Rica!

Grace and I talk often, but I hadn’t seen Ali in quite some time. She is a copywriter for various magazines and her husband, Martin, teaches at a unique school in Costa for mostly American students who don’t quite fit in the traditional scholastic institutions here in the U.S. The students there are offered a non-traditional approach to learning, even going to places like the Galapagos Islands. He didn’t show up with them, deciding instead to spend time with his family in Florida.

I know I have quoted one of my grandmother’s most memorable sayings before but in this case, it is worth repeating. “The best present is presence.”

Seeing my sister and niece was the best present ever!

Even better, the rain had finally abated, the sun was shining and for the entire time they stayed with me, each and every day was gorgeous. To top it off, all they wanted to do was get out on the water. You would think, in Ali’s case, living the life in Costa Rica, the Lowcountry couldn’t compete, but she was, simply put, in hog heaven.

Neither my sister or niece are huge fans of offshore fishing, but begged me to take them fishing inshore.

Talk about an epic bite, we absolutely creamed the big sheepshead. Squeals of delight were constant as they both hooked into one monster sheepshead after another. Keeping only enough for dinner for the three of us and my nephew, Byron Sewell, I fried up our catch along with some shrimp I had caught earlier using a tempura batter and they demolished every morsel.

On day two, we went looking for Indian artifacts. They were blown away by shards of pottery we found, each with its own unique designs etched into the clay. Telling them about tribes that once inhabited this area, they were all ears. Holding something that old in their hand and daydreaming about what life for them may have been like back then brought huge smiles to their faces. The fact that they came in covered with pluff mud from head to toe didn’t faze them one bit. What a day it was!

Ready for more time on the water, we hopped aboard Byron’s “Native Son Adventure” center-console boat and went looking for million-year-old Megalodon shark teeth. I used to do this a lot but for whatever reason it had been quite a while since I went looking.

Best done during winter months when bugs are minimal, it was great to be back at it. Walking along, scouring the ground for that triangular shape, it is a great way to get lost in your own thoughts while getting exercise at the same time.

We hadn’t been out of the boat for minutes when I hear my sister scream, “I found one, I found one!” It was as if she had won the lottery or something.

Not long afterward, I glanced right where I was going to step and there lay a perfect tooth about the size of my hand. Byron went nuts, saying it was the best tooth he had seen in a number of trips he had taken lately and blamed it all on me being the luckiest son of a gun he had ever known.

To top off the day, on the way home two of our friendly dolphins popped up boat side to say howdy, completing a perfect visit here for my sis and niece.

So, there you have it, my introduction to 2020. May it bring perfect vision for the year for this 20/40 man.