LBI

I sat.
quietly on the dock.
feeling the salt water rush and splash under me.
My curiosity moved me to lie down with my eyes over the space between two of the old, grey, salt worn boards that made up the dock. I curled my toes under and let them hold up my outstretched legs.
Peering down into the water I saw the foamy masses floating by. The clumps of seaweed with tiny little barnacles.
I could feel the heat move in masses with the bay breezes.
My blonding hair was blowing gently. Beginning to mat from a day out in the salt air.
It was summertime. On the Jersey shore.
I remember feeling so bored on those long summer days.
I took sailing classes and did swimteam. I took art classses and scooped ice cream in the local parlor for extra money.
But the days always seemed very long.
Now, I think back and only remember the barefeet that carried me everywhere. Except into the movie theater. That was pretty much the only place that required shoes on that island.
I may have only had one pair of flip-flops for the whole summer. I hardly wore them at all.
I ate cheesesteaks and pizza
and drank birch beer.
For lunches at home it was microwave hot dogs or spagettio's. The first lunches I knew how to "cook" myself.

I remember walking on the pebbles that made up our yard and taking most of our showers outdoors. There was always green shampoo and shaving cream in there.

We would eat fabulous dinners
clams, mussels, big, fresh sliced tomatoes.
Sweet corn on the cob
The days stayed light late and we would bike or walk to the ice cream shop for dessert. There was always a line out the door. Freshly tanned and showered people, waiting to choose their flavor.

We rode our bikes everywhere. Total freedom to explore.
There was a five and ten store to buy candy . It smelled of plastic beach toys and inner tubes.
There, we could get anything we needed for summer.

In the mornings there was a bakery.
My parents would often bring home muffins. Huge muffins or fresh bagels for breakfast. The yummy kind of breakfast that wore off by 10 and had you planning lunch already.

We had a hammock out on the back porch. I would sit in it and watch TV. Music videos. Trying to identify with something as I grew from girl to teenager.
The songs that were on then still remind me of summer when I here them.

This place was it's own paradise where you could walk from the ocean to the bay in 20 minutes. Sun rising at the ocean. Setting at the bay. You could crab and clam right of of the edge of the shoreline. Seagulls would sing to us during the day and the buzz of window fans would lull us to sleep at night.
Even if I did not appreciate it then, I do now.
Wonderful summers at the jersey shore.
Thanks Mom and Dad