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Published: March 3rd 2006
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Shinnecock Inlet
The weekend after Labor Day. Well the summer is coming to a close. After my first week back at work with summer vacation over I journeyed out to my family's summerhouse on Long Island. Well actually, I didn’t actually get to go into my house. This was due to the previous night’s dart throwing/beer drinking down at the local and the inevitable morning after that caused me to forget the keys back in Westchester. I am beginning to sense a theme here. First it was my passport left in a Vienna hotel room, after a night out, that left me unable to get into Slovakia. Now here I was calling myself Tommy No Keys on Long Island.
However, it wasn’t a total loss as my friend and I headed off to the beach. The Hamptons are really two different places. One is the Hamptons that everyone knows, the one that occupies the time between Memorial Day and Labor Day. During this time the place is full of life and energy, particularly on the weekends. People who have been imprisoned in their offices and cubicles venture out to this place and discover that there is more to life than just the 9-5, or increasingly the
Dune Road
A deserted scene that seemed to say that summer was coming to an end. 8-6. They remember what it was like to be a kid on summer’s afternoon riding his bike from the beach to the tennis courts with their best friends and how they felt as a teenager going down to the beach at night as the moon highlighted the crashing waves. They attend barbeques at the beach, eat hamburgers, and drink toasts to their friends. But with the suns dwindling rays they get ready to put away such thoughts for another year. Time to put dreams aside and reenter the cubicle.
When I was there this weekend I saw the other Hamptons begin to make its appearance. There were much less people about, and the faces I did see had the look of people who lived there year round. These people knew how Main Street looked when was covered with a new fallen snow and that the sign that read “No parking when there is snow” actually had a purpose. They seemed ready to resume their slower pace of life, now that the summer people were heading back taking their faced paced lifestyle with them.
I went down to the beach club to enjoy what was probably going
7-11
Firewood ready to be sold for the upcoming chill. to be my last time down there this year. After a packed Labor Day weekend it was funny to see less people there just one week later, even though the weather was stunning. The people I saw there seemed to be trying to squeeze every last drop out of the summer. But at the end of the day perhaps they knew that this would be it. The light seemed different. A little starker as it cast shadows at odd angles.
I love swimming in the ocean waves, it is perhaps my favorite thing to do. I took a long time surveying the waves as they crashed and swirled about my legs. I finally took the plunge and dove in. The water was surprisingly warm. It was different though. There seemed to be a different current. A new pattern perhaps. One that belonged to a different season.
My friend and I left the beach and made one last attempt to break into my house, but found it to be locked up solid and tight. I was both frustrated and relieved. It was good to know that my summerhouse and all its contents were all safely locked up and secured, waiting for me when summer rolled around again next year.
On the way back to my Westchester winter home I stopped at 7-11 to get a Slurpee, which has been my traditional summer drink since as long I can remember. I know I’m 27, but I still can’t resist a cold slurpee on a warm summer’s day. But outside 7-11 I saw something new. They were selling firewood. Now if that doesn’t signal that summer’s over I don’t know what does.
So as I barreled along the Long Island Expressway into the evening, listening to Ryan Adams sing about New York, I prepared my mind for the challenges of a new year. What will it bring? In what way can I best teach my new students? And where will my travels take me next?
Note: I am now getting ready to watch the US Open final between Roger Federer and Andre Agassi, which has always signalled the end of summer in my mind. You couldn't script a better final. added september 11, 2005
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