Do you remember that old Irish song about a gay (merry) lass? Well, we happen to now have such a lass who has joined our SeaSide Team as our new Office-Community Manager. She’s gay (happy) and she’s a sweet Irish lass at that. It's true. Her name is Gaye Lass.We found her on her boat in the Carrabelle marina. That’s right….living on her sailboat with her dog, Shadow. Gaye was living her dream of a unique semi-retired lifestyle from sales and marketing in the pharmaceutical industry during her many years living in Tallahassee. She’s still living her dream on her sailboat, but now no longer semi-retired. She’d planned to live this dream with her husband with whom she bought the boat back in 2000 and put it in the water here in Carrabelle. But that dream didn’t last so she up and decided to live it anyway on her own, and moved onto the sailboat in spring 2007.
Ok, more truth. We met Gaye through friends here in Carrabelle since she is very active in the community with many civic interests. Our first meeting was at the Friday happy hour women’s social gathering at Harry’s Bar in downtown Carrabelle. Michael (our Sales Manager) and I were invited after work to meet and join the crowd by one of our wonderful local liaison friends, TJ Sellers, At Your Service Concierge (another blog for another day), for a Friday afternoon “salon”. The men stay inside at the bar while the women gather on the patio ‘dishing’.
Ordinary folks who gather are the former Mayor, a former City Commissioner, the former City attorney (I guess the last election wasn’t very kind to them), local realtors, and many civic activists, with the men drifting in and out of the patio refilling glasses. This is an eclectic group of civically active and interesting people who are there more for the social interaction than for the alcohol….for the most part! Everyone brings a treat to share, an appetizer of sorts, typically homemade. Way too much every week.
I’m not much of a bar person but here in Carrabelle Friday happy hour is a local institution not to be missed, with laughs, great treats, and always sunshine.
After getting to know Gaye through working with her on a variety of our open houses and her weekend stints in our sales office, we talked her into coming to work with us full-time. She is a dear soul, somebody’s grandmother, and an inspiration.
Prior to relocating to Florida in 1996, Gaye spent a great deal of her life in quaint New England towns, always near the water, never far from a boat. From a full professional life in Tallahassee to living on her sailboat in the Carrabelle Marina…..what a huge lifestyle shift! She loves it!
She exemplifies some of the interesting stories of people from all over the world I meet regularly here in Carrabelle. There are all sorts of fascinating stories and backgrounds of people who’ve chosen a more laid back lifestyle after leaving the rat race. This feels like the Florida Keys back when I was a kid 20 years ago (ok, I exaggerate…it is more than 20 years since I was a kid….humor me). Carrabelle, and all of Franklin County, is island-like living, no traffic, yet with modern day accessibility, communications, technology and amenities.
Gaye is an outstanding resource for our visitors and new residents about all the fantastic things to do in Carrabelle and Franklin County. Getting very creative, this past spring she initiated a new local tradition, the “First Annual Kayak Race and Float Your Own ‘Homemade’ Boat Parade” on the Carrabelle River during the awesome River Front Festival. Next year I have a feeling there will be t-shirts.
Judy
