100 Days to Memorial Day

From the time of my birth, which was during a heat wave in NYC in 1975 (something that my mother never let’s me forget), I have loved summer and especially summers at the beach.  Nothing brings me greater joy then when the first buds start pushing through the frozen earth or when I catch a whiff of baseball in the air on my way to work.  Then I know it’s time to pack the parka up and break out the flip flops!  

As a child, summer vacations were the best.  My mother’s idea of “summer camp” was taking us to Rockaway Beach  everyday – rain or shine.  We’d load up her brown Ford Torino with sandwiches, Twizzlers, iced tea, towels and our boogie boards religiously every morning.  Even if there was a chance of rain, we’d go and hang out under the boardwalk until either the sun peaked out or the sky’s got a little too scary.

As I’m getting older, I cherish those summer vacations and dread the “winter blues” that consume me around this time every year.  A few years ago as a way to kick the “winter blues” away, my best friend and I decided to celebrate the small stuff and do a countdown to Memorial Day (the unofficial start of summer).       

So we came up with “100 Days to Memorial Day” which we kick off in mid-February at Asbury Park, NJ because that’s where her family had a summer home.  On the drive down from Brooklyn, we start swapping stories about sun and surf, crank up the radio, and plan out our vacation days. 

We spend the day walking around Asbury, reminiscing about the good ole days.  My friend points out how much things have changed from when she was a kid and indeed there’s been a huge effort to bring Asbury back to its hey-day.  Although, the revitalization suffered a setback this past October, when the shoreline was hit hard by SuperStorm Sandy.   That’s why it’s even more important for us to visit and support the local vendors and restaurants that were affected. 

As I sit in my beach chair all bundled up, I think a lot about the journey of my life and imagine what is possible for my future.  How do I make that plan to get myself to where I want to be? Even if my plan is to live “Golden Girls” style in a beach community somewhere.  I wonder which Golden Girl would I be?