Testimonial

George and Chris Reiss share why they are donating to Love the Club.

            George and I are donating to Love the Club because of what the Yacht Club has meant to our family, and because of what a beautiful new club will surely mean for hundreds of families in this community that we love.

            We started coming to the Yacht Club when my children were just babies. When they were restless toddlers, dinner on the back deck of the Yacht Club was literally a lifesaver for this young mom who’d had three children in the space of four years. We would have been a moving train wreck in any other setting, but George and I could sit peacefully on the back deck of the Club sipping a before dinner drink, while the kids played happily on the lawn and the jungle gym. Someone else was cooking dinner, and life was good. More often than not, we’d be joined by Paul and Anne Dick, with little Amy and Douglas. If we were lucky, the Pressers would join us, and we could count on Lauren to coral and entertain the younger kids while we enjoyed adult conversation on the deck. Invariably, while we waited for dinner to be served, Taylor would slip his little hand into George’s and whisper, “Daddy, Daddy, let’s go look at the boats.”  My heart still squeezes when I recall the sweet picture of the two of them silhouetted against the dramatic gold, pink and purple swirls of the sun setting over St. Andrews Bay. They would walk slowly, to match Taylor’s baby steps, occasionally stopping for George to kneel beside Taylor, their heads inclined together as George pointed out something that was somehow new after dozens of prior walks down the same dock.

            As the kids grew, Anne Dick and I used to measure the passage of time by our relative location to the Yacht Club pool.  In the beginning, of course, we had to be in the pool flailing about with the kids.  A few years later, we were able to move to sitting on the edge of the pool, with only our legs in the water (usually swinging one foot to bounce and entertain a tired child who swam over to cling to one of us).  We thought life was really starting to get good the day we graduated to sitting in chairs on the lower pool deck. We still felt the need to be suited up and ready to jump in, but the kids were finally old enough that we could relax. We introduced cocktails into our routine. We discovered that the children had each memorized the family membership number and had learned that knocking on the snack bar window and reciting the number made all manner of candies, slushes and snacks magically appear. As the kids grew older, we were able to move up to the upper wooden deck, propping our feet on the wood railing, and occasionally looking up from our books to count heads or reprimand a child. All too soon, the day came when they jumped on their bikes and rode down to the Yacht Club pool to swim …. without us.  Before we knew it, our “babies” Emilie, Rachel and Amy were the lifeguards in charge of the pool where we had happily splashed through their childhood. Years later, with Emilie and Amy standing beside her, Rachel was married in a sunset ceremony on the Yacht Club lawn.

            Anne Dick used to tell me her childhood stories of summers at the pool, sailing, and weekend evenings spent congregating at the Club with other teenagers while their parents were part of a raucous group in the dining room. I used to envy Anne her memories of growing up with her family at the Yacht Club, and I am so grateful that now, my own children have so many cherished memories of our Yacht Club traditions. Before the sun was fully up on the day of the fire, we heard from each of our three children, who had all somehow already heard the news through the grapevine of those who no longer live in Bay County but are nonetheless forever connected to this special place. After we told them that, yes, we thought the majestic oak on the Club’s back deck had a good chance of surviving, we told them that we were certain that the Club itself would survive and would come back better than ever. We expect to make a treasure trove of precious new memories at the Club with family, friends, and friends that are like family. And I will once again sit under that majestic oak on the deck of a newly rebuilt Club, watching young children playing on the lawn, and will know that they are forging friendships that will last a lifetime.