Down the Shore

I'm bleary eyed.  I do not believe the bitch storm Sandy has been over-hyped.  I am super-saturated with information and photos.  I played The Weather Channel all night long.  Through my routine insomnia, I'd catch cat-naps, then wake up, roll over, get a TWC fix, and then back to another cat nap.  So it went all night long.  All day today has been spent pouring through news reports on television, satellite, and social media.  People all up the coast of this country are in peril, including some areas of the mid-Atlantic, many areas in the northeast, and through New England.  And, my beloved Jersey shore is in peril.  It is taking a pounding.

Look at those crazy teeny footprints!

I have taken just about all I can take with photos and reports.  But, I cannot stop looking, I cannot stop watching.  It's awful, just awful.

I have a "thing" about beach fences.  I love them.
They're very beachy.

My grandparents had a tiny summer house in a shore town.  I don't remember much about it, but I remember the kitchen had wallpaper with teakettles all over, I remember going to the Bay, and I remember the boardwalk.  I was very small when I had my first ever lemon ice with my dad, and I was much older when I was with my dad as he had his last lemon ice before he died.  On the same boardwalk.

Not too many years ago, I went on vacation.
I learned that many years ago, Pop had a summer home 2 blocks from where I was going.
We talked a lot about his summer home.
I learned he used to spend time with his beloved wife on a specific oceanfront bench near their house.
This is the bench, the bench Pop sat as a much younger man with his beloved.
I took this photo as a gift for him while I was there.
It's one of my favorite pictures.

I lived at the shore for part of my life, and for part of my life I did not.  But, always my place for anything when times were good, or they were bad was down the shore.

Even the most mundane things become so fascinating down the shore!

I have been to the shore with a screwdriver in my hand chipping away at ice looking for shells.  I have made snow angels on the beach.  I have been to the shore at all times of the year, there is never a time when it's not right to be down the shore.

Hello lover!

The shore is where I would go for celebrations of any type, as well as to grieve.  I went there after losing a brother, after losing my mom, after losing best friends, after losing companion animals, and after losing my dad. Especially important for me were times I spent alone at the shore right after losing my dad.  Everything was black, nothing made sense.  My family and I had been through so much. So, I turned to the sea, and found comfort once again.

There will be another sunrise soon down the shore.
And so, there is always hope.

I cannot reach some people who are very important to me that live down the shore.  I am hoping it is because they have left as ordered to do so, and they do not have cell phone battery backups or whatever.  I know it's a crap shoot and a roll of the dice in any coastal community.  We are all on borrowed time with the sea as our neighbor, no matter where that may be.  But we are also drawn to it for its mystery, its power, it's majesty and so much more.

The sea will take what it wants.  Whatever is left is for whoever is brave enough to reclaim.  If it were me, I would reclaim.  I'm one of the fools that would reclaim.  Once you are seduced and lured to the sea and the sand, there is no turning back.  You just can't really explain it, but you have fallen in love with the sand, the sky, the air, and everything else.

No matter where I am, a piece of my heart is always down the shore.