Since I was a little girl I’ve lived on the water in good old New Jersey.
Every day I would wake up, look out my window and see the waves crashing in my backyard on our little beach. I’d wake up to the joy of the bay breeze on my face and the sound of seagulls squawking at each other at the start of each day. I would spend my summers on the boat with my father, soaking up the sun with my mother, catching waves with my brother…and just enjoy my life being that born and raised Jersey Shore kid.
But now things are different. I’m now older, my family situation has changed, my home has changed and frankly, I’m now with all this change, I’m just doing what every 21-year-old does…and searching for answers.
See, when you find yourself older and experiencing so much change, you go looking for answers… answers to your life. And sometimes searching for those answers brings you back to the places where it all started. Which is why I decided to come home and make my way back to 8th Street for a day.
Growing up, 8th Street was my second home. Located in Ship Bottom New Jersey in LBI, 8th was the place I spent almost every weekend swimming in the ocean, playing in the sand: making memories upon memories as a child that I will never forget. It was the place my parents use to take my brother and me to build sand castles, dig ridiculously deep holes I would sleep in, boogie board, collect way to my shells…I could go on and on.
It was where my mom uses to take me on Wednesdays when she was off work to skip school, where I got my first job as a beach badge checker that everyone hates. It was where I learned to surf, got bit by crabs and acquired a fear of jellyfish. It was the street I met some of my best friends, saw my worst enemies, and even met Harvey: the man who was from PA who would drive to the beach every day so he could tan and wear his array of speedos. ( LOCALS LOVE HIM)
It was my safe zone. My area of solitude that made me feel as if nothing else mattered while I was there…which is why on my last day here in New Jersey before I fly back to the QC, I came back…to think, to relax and to get one day back of enjoying the one thing that has always been the same throughout my life.
Spending the day here brought back old memories. That’s for sure. But nothing sad, just beautiful memories of my life and my home. Sticking my toes in the water and getting them covered with sand made me smile, made me remember, that even though change is inevitable, something’s in life can be the same. Or at least make it feel that way.
Being able to come to this beach today, even though I was by myself, allowed me to stop thinking, if only for a little, which I think is important for all of us as individuals to be able to do. To just take a moment to calm ourselves and be at peace.
It’s funny because I would never have thought of 3 or 8 or even 14 how important and special this place was to me, but I guess that’s just how life sort of works. You don’t realize how certain things really impacted your life till there gone for a while…but I guess that’s what makes the feeling of getting them back that much better.
So in the end, I and 8th Street had a wonderful day. With my toes in the sand and my freckles now coming out on my face, we spent the day reminiscing about the good times we’ve shared…
With Love,
Lex Paige
love you more