The Honey Badger and the Sea

I once heard that the sea is a cure for whatever ails you. Sometimes the sea is like the Honey Badger – it just takes what it wants! The Nor’Easter ofDecember 11, 1992, ruined our beachfront home in Throggs Neck with tsunami-like tidal waves which swept through our living room.  After that, a second floor apartment with distant bay-views sounded just fine. Later, the news showed our favoriteDune Roadhad been sliced into by the ocean. We shed a tear when we watch the documentary of the Incorporated Village of Westhampton Dunes. Congratulations to Mayor Gary and his village on the award for best beach restoration!  In Throggs Neck, the Bay permanently rose after the storm and covered most of the beaches up to the sea walls. Today the oldBronxneighborhood is mostly condos with multi-family homes, although most of the beach clubs remain. Whoever said change is a good thing hasn’t had their neighborhood overbuilt, their beaches disappear, or witness a landscape-changing event like a Nor’Easter. I’ve been lucky so far.

Luck be a RestoredBeach

“If you’re lucky enough to live at the beach, you’re lucky enough.”  This is a sign that’s in my home. It’s how I feel about having grown up by the sea and being lucky to spend my time in the Hamptons and Montauk. Currently, I live inPelhamBay, which is close to the bay but with higher elevations. It never floods even when the mountains ofVermontare under water. During a storm, we don’t have to relentlessly watch The Weather Channel. Yet, when you live inland something is missing. “It’s time for a beach party”, I tell my dog and he happily agrees. We drive to Southampton or Montauk to see our old friend – the ocean.

Perhaps my descriptions of Hamptons-life is passé to a local, much like my friends would say, “Ahh…smell that sea air?”, upon going into my Throggs Neck backyard. Wasn’t all air like this? Each time I am in the Hamptons or Montauk, I’m blessed that there is a place from my history that still exists. I will always be the little girl who lives by the sea, no matter how far inland I move. You can always find me out East with a shell in my hand, sand in my socks, a dog by side, and my toes in the ocean – even in the winter, when everyone knows the water is the most pristine. Timeless and enchanting – that is myEast End.

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