Home Sweet Home

There’s nothing like arriving home and seeing my parents after months of fending for myself, moving into a new apartment, long work days, tough classes, and everything else that comes with being an adult. The last time I was here was for Christmas break, when we were trapped in a few feet of snow. As much as I LOVED running around town with my friend in the snow storm (yes, by foot), nothing compares to the Jersey Shore in the summer. First stop, the boardwalk.

My mother and I love to walk. We walked around town the first night so that she could show me all that has changed. We passed my old school, St. Joseph’s Regional Catholic School which closed in 2001, when we were all forced to take the bus off shore to a newly built, bigger school. After a half a year at the new school I quickly came back to the island to attend the local public school, which, surprisingly is still holding up. Well, St. Joseph’s, after it has been closed, has been used for CCD classes, and Sunday masses in the cafeteria. As I passed it, it brought back memories of playing in the cement parking lot. Our playground was a hop scotch game and four square painted onto the lot in white highway paint. We somehow always used our imagination to occupy our free time after lunch. Now, the half of the building where our classes had been, has been knocked down and turned into an even larger parking lot. The lines of white paint are now longer and used so that cars can park one after the other, blocking every last one into a spot.

As we continued to walk we reached the board walk. There is a new lifeguard building with clean and polished bathrooms where the old wooden ones that gave you splinters used to be. And further down, there was a new gazebo. The old one was longer over the beach and perfect for sneaking onto the beach without beach tags. When my friends and I forgot our tags we could always count on heading to JFK blvd to walk to the end of the gazebo and jump down 8 feet into the sand without the beach tagger seeing us. Now the gazebo has railings that prevent anyone from doing so. I have a feeling the taggers have caught on to our scheme. I am sure new memories will be made at this gazebo, as my brother is planning his wedding in September to be held there!

Just last summer, I visited the shore to see my family and we saw a “movie by the sea” where all the families brought their beach chairs and Sea Isle City rented a large movie screen for everyone in town to enjoy. Now, there is a new stage with lights and TV screens on the side for all kinds of events.  Later my mother and I would enjoy the “Sea Isle’s Got Talent” show as well as the showing of “Shrek Ever After.” Tonight was kid’s dance night with a DJ. They played music until 11 o’clock and children were still dancing the night away with their families. I saw myself in the face of some of the children there, and even the pre-teens that watched from the railing of the boardwalk while mingling with the summer boys.

Since Sea Isle has become such a hot spot for tourists and summer vacationers, they have built an information center with a map of the island and brochures of all of the planned activities for the “shoobies.” Someone once told me the word “shoobie” came from when the shore was a place for people from the city to visit for the day. They would bring their lunch in shoeboxes for the day, hence the name. When does one go from being a local back to a shoobie? Or, if one spends enough time in one area, will they forever be a local? It makes me wonder since I my  recognition of this town is beginning to fade.

I visited the stores on the boardwalk, most of them still the same. I dropped in to one store that the parents of one of my best friends growing up owns and runs. It is good to see they are doing well and still enjoying what they do. My dad, since he has retired, has pick up the art of pottery. He is now selling his work in Sea Isle in the summer, and Sanibel Island, Florida, in the winter. He has a table at a boardwalk shop displaying his pieces for sale, and he also sets up stands at every flea market he can get his hands on. Oh what I have to look forward to in retirement!

On the walk back I passed the historical St. Joseph’s church, and the new and improved St. Joseph’s next to it. The new one seems like a larger version of the last one, it has very similar architecture. Looking at the stained glass windows of the old church makes me wonder if you are morally allowed to simply knock down a church with so much prayer and history behind it. I would save that church simply for the smells of incense that came out of it and the memories that it evokes of me being an alter girl and being able to ring the bell when Father Carey lifted the Eucharist, walking from the school to church to recite the Rosary Beads and say our confessions, being scolded for speaking during mass, buying sticking buns from MaryAnne’s bakery on Sundays after church…(MaryAnne’s is in the same condition as ever, I was happy to see :-)

We stopped and got ice cream, as tradition in the summer, to enjoy on our way back. My favorite part of Sea Isle is the life in it. People sit on their front decks and walk  or ride a bike anywhere they need to go in town. You always run into someone you know on the street, whether in the day or even late at night. Everything is open late because people never want to finish socializing!

Photo of Yum Yum's Ice Cream Shop by the beach on JFK Blvd.

The rest of my trip home consisted of seeing my old friends from high school and elementary school, mostly my neighbor who has lived down the street and who I have been friends with since I was about 5 years old. I attended Aerobics classes with my mom and the local Aerobics Chicks in town in the mornings; went paddle boarding around the lagoons behind my house, passing all of the new mansions and side-by-side houses that have been built in my absence; went to the roof-top pool of the Spinnaker on the boardwalk; ran into classmates I haven’t seen in years all over town walking, driving, working at the bars, bank, restaurants. My parents took me on a boat ride to a local restaurant down the bay where we always get free appetizers when we come in. When we docked the boat, I looked up to the deck restaurant and saw two boys I used to babysit. They are now in middle and high school. I chatted with them for a little bit and they were excited to see me, they remembered me taking them to the park, and reading them stories to help them fall asleep. On the way back from the boat ride we were stopped by the coast guard for a random safety inspection. We chatted with them about Operation Fireside and how we take in Coast Guard trainees every Christmas while they are in training, so that they can celebrate off site since they can’t go all the way home. Thankfully we had no violations!

The next major thing I did was look for a bridesmaid dress for my brother’s wedding! They are getting married in September on the Sea Isle City boardwalk! It is an exciting time for them and I cannot wait for them to start a new chapter of their life.
Next stop for me, heading back to Florida to start my internship!