A month of my summer, for the past few years, is all about my Long Beach, NY boardwalk experience.
It’s not about a plan, or trying something new, or luxury… it’s about how being here, doing what I do every August, and how it makes me feel. It’s about what this destination does for my soul. Not all “experiences” are about something new or unique. As a matter of fact, often some of the best are those you have some sort of an attachment to, look forward to, and want to do again and again and again. That’s my annual August in Long Beach.
It all began for me in my childhood, growing up a couple of towns away in Oceanside, spending so much tIme here due to its proximity, a great aunt and uncle who lived here (holocaust survivors), and a mom and dad who took full advantage of both. We came here all the time. My Dad LOVED the boardwalk, and his love became mine… some because I have so much of him as part of me, and some due to repetition and exposure to something so special for so many years.
I lived here for three years, after my divorce, when my girls were young, and started bringing them for visits here before taking a two-bedroom apartment right on the boardwalk. It was those three years, sharing it with them, that really cemented my attachment. I would have lived here for at least 10 years longer than I did if I did not have to move to stay close to my girls when their mother relocated to the North Shore of Long Island making it more difficult with them becoming tweens to not be very close.
Now I relish my month here every summer, also came back this year during Thanksgiving for a week, and will plan to do so for as many more years as it can work out. Great experiences are “a” feeling, are “about” feelings, and are something we can breathe in, hold in our hearts, and treasure. They are about YOU, and what makes YOU happy. So find them yourselves, or have someone help create them for you… but don/t let anyone tell you what they “should” be.