Kathy's Chaos: Summer's Almost Here!

It seems like just yesterday I was hoping for a snow day. And now, Memorial Day is upon us.

Last weekend, we were not among the many who attended , my kids are a little too little and I am a little too old.

Instead, we hit the Belmar beach on Saturday afternoon and thanks to a breeze from the right direction, got to listen to Bamboozle for free.

We ran into a friend on the beach, there with her cousin, who was visiting from Bergen County. We were introduced and the cousin said something like, “It so great that you can do this all the time.”

She is so right. Sometimes we forget how lucky we are to live to where we live.

I grew up in Middlesex County, so I know how lucky we are. I think if you grew up here, like my kids, you don't always realize how special Monmouth County is, especially the towns like ours that are so close to the coast.

Every day, we can see the ocean. Whether we choose to or not is another story.

Every day, we can have sand between our toes.

Many days in the summer, we can see fireworks.

We know how to bait a hook. We have waverunners and boats.  

The kids know the ocean, respect the ocean, and understand how dangerous it can be.

The pounding of the waves lulls some of us to sleep.

We breathe in the salt air that we don’t even notice until someone from up north points out how great it smells down here.

We walk to the beach. We ride our bikes to the beach. We have a short drive to the beach. We don’t have to sit in traffic to get to the beach.

We have beach chairs in the back of our cars at all times. We have a beach locker. We have a beach club.

We will have a trunk filled with sand before too long.

We will have barbecues; we will have beers with our neighbors.

We will use a lot of sunscreen and bug spray.

We have a choice of restaurants with an ocean view.

Jenkinson’s boardwalk is a short drive away.

We can play mini golf and see the ocean.

We can go for a run and see the ocean.

We can take our baby for a walk and see the ocean.

Our kids know playgrounds with sand instead of mulch. 

We know the tides and what they mean for our day.

We know it’s not safe to walk on the jetties when there is no lifeguard on duty.

We collect beach glass and sand dollars.

It’s a given that our kids learn to skimboard, boogie board and surf.

We know baby powder immediately removes sand from all body parts.

We know that it’s not okay to pick up a horseshoe crab by his tail.

We dig for sand crabs.

We get to watch movies on the beach.

We get to hear concerts on the beach for free.

We are so lucky.

Let’s not let our kids forget this.

I am so happy to welcome the unofficial start of summer! I sure hope that Labor Day takes the long road.