Litchfield Beach: My Happy Place

Do you have a tradition in your family? My family does: Litchfield Beach, S.C. This is the place we have gathered for the last 10+ years for family reunions every summer, and it is truly my happy place. 

To unplug for a week and leave your life behind to spend time with family is something everyone should do. Especially when you don’t get to see them often, if they are spread out throughout the country. 

Located in Pawley’s Island, Litchfield isn’t a glamorous beach vacation spot. But it is a community, and the people that have been coming here for as long as we have, have begun to know one another. The same restaurants every summer, the same shops, the same grocery stores: it’s a home away from home if I’ve ever known one.

Now we have a big family, so we tend to takeover the resort, but whether we’ve rented houses or condos, we never fail to gather together. The restaurants have grown accustomed to reservations of 25+ people and kids running around. 

My summers are filled with so many memories of this beach and my loving family. Even though a lot of the kids have grown up, every year it’s like nothing has changed. Time stops, and all the worries and obligations of our lives fall away while we indulge in sand, sun and each other. 

An image always pops up in my mind, when I think of our Litchfield vacations: a line of about 20 beach chairs in all colors, shapes and sizes, taking up the prime spot on the beach. Beach coolers filled with juice boxes, diet cokes, and ice cold tea. Shovels and toys sprawled out in every direction with kids running around in between everything. Laughter echoing on the beach from someone’s questionably funny joke, or embarrassing story. The smell of sunscreen radiating in every direction and the inevitable sunburns that appear regardless. Finally, the smiles on everyone’s faces because we’re at Litchfield, and because we are with each other.