Summer is coming to a close all to quickly.  It’s been a long time since I’ve spent any significant time at the beach.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had some wonderful vacations over the past few years, but there is something comforting and familiar about the Jersey Shore.  No, the water isn’t blue like the Caribbean. Yes, it’s overcrowded. No, it’s not a perfect pristine shore line but it’s my beach.  This is the place of family vacations with my parents, brother, sister and cousins.  This is the place we took the kids every year. Oh how I always looked forward to that week in the summer. We would pack the station wagon till you could barely see out the back windows. Sheets, towels, food, clothes, toys, they all had to come to the beach. It took almost a week to get everything organized and ready to go but that first smell of salt air was so worth it.  As soon as we would hit the bridge into Long Beach Island or Ocean City all the windows would get rolled down and we would all just enjoy that smell. Ahh, salt air mixed with car fumes mixed with . . . what’s that? Now we’ve arrived and it’s time to set everything up. Make the beds, put the food away, get ready to do all the things a Mom does at home.  Is this vacation?  Yes it is!

Ok, ok, you can unpack later. Yes, you can go to the miniature golf but you have to take your brother . . . and don’t lose him.  Yes, you and Mandy can go check out the beach. Don’t go in the water till we get down there and for gods sake don’t stop at the store for “Sun-In”. You know it turned your hair orange last year! Did you put your sun screen on?

Ahh, alone in the house, walk out to the deck, feel the sun, smell the water, breathe.