My Paradise

Summertime on the Jersey Shore is such a beautiful experience. I enjoy being able to walk in the sunshine on the boardwalk in my flip-flops or walking barefoot on the beach with the sand and water between my toes. I love to hear the roar of the crashing waves on the coastline and the calls of the seagulls as they scavenge the crowded beaches. This is the very definition of paradise and I live for this annually. For most summer starts in June but, in our locale, this begins on Memorial Day. Hundreds upon thousands crowd small towns like Point Pleasant Beach, Seaside Park, Long Beach Island, and Wildwood to vacation or just for a weekend away. Every part of the country has their nicknames for tourists but, in this “neck of the woods,” we call them bennies. These people, even though they fuel commerce, are usually loathed by locals. It doesn’t help when MTV makes a show like the Jersey Shore.

My husband and I try to visit the beach at least twice a season. Our favorite beach is in Long Branch, New Jersey in a place called Seven Presidents Park. The coastline is beautiful and the boardwalk is lovely. We really love this beach, because it really isn’t that crowded. I’ve also fallen in love with the lake at Ocean County Park, which is strange, because I always thought that I was an ocean devotee. I still find joy of going to the arcade on the boardwalk just to play skeeball in summer or buying salt water taffy from the sweet shop on the boardwalk at Jenkinson’s in Point Pleasant Beach. Although we enjoy the daytime activity of the shore, the nightlife is something that we have grown out of. The other day, my husband and I had a drink at Martell's while we were on the boardwalk two weeks ago and it was still off season. The place was very quiet and we were talking with the bartender and joking about the difference two weeks will make.

I've grown up on the Jersey Shore my whole life, and I've been lucky enough to appreciate its beaches. I can remember as a little girl when my mother packed us up in the car for our sojourn to Island Beach State Park. We used to have to get up early in the morning in order to get parking. The beaches on the parkland were so popular that they would fill up by noontime. I remember the smell of coconut Coppertone suntan lotion mixed with the salt air. My little sister and I would cart our Boogie Boards down the beach and my mother would spread out the beach blanket, plop down the cooler, and open the umbrella. This practice happened several times during the season. I’ve always loved the water and I would swim for hours and hours. My mother would joke and call me the “water rat.” For some reason, my little sister had more of an issue with it. Eventually that passed once she made peace with learning how to swim.

My dream, if I ever win the lottery, is to have a house in Mantoloking right on the shore. I would want the natural wood shakes like those on the homes in the Hamptons or in Nantucket. I know that my life will probably take me in other directions, because nothing in the world ever goes as planned. I’m the master of my own destiny, but I can’t twist the fates. I would love to live out the rest of my life here on the Jersey Shore. Many people make fun of this state, but I love that I am a minute away from the Mantoloking River, five minutes from the Barnegat Bay, ten minutes from the Atlantic Ocean and twenty minutes away from the Manasquan River. I think it’s a gift that I get to live my summertime in this natural landscape and I worry about its future. Dumping and spillage have threatened the natural wonder of the shore. I'm really hoping that better ecological decisions and greener energy concepts will save our coastlines. I could never dream of leaving and if I do, my heart will always remain here.