Going back

There's a little coastal town in NJ where I spent my first 13 years. It was not the nicest place when I lived there. Much of it run down, neglected and in many ways depressed. There were more bars in that square mile than you could count, it seemed. Fights spilling out of any one of those bars was a common occurrence. The sewage or fragrance plants could cast nasty smells into the air at any given moment. There was one elementary school and it consisted of kindergarten through 8th grade. Every one knew everyone and gossip abounded.

Over the past 20+ years much has changed in this little town and it is both nice to see the changes and somewhat regretful that it wasn't as nice when I lived there. I have some great memories being a kid in a quiet, almost forgotten shore town. Walking to the little deli market on Front Street on a warm summer day to buy gum or Cracker Jacks, greeting the man behind the counter by name. Most everyone knew my name and my family. Stopping by the auto body shop to see what Bobby the owner was working on. He would call me Funny Face and ask what I had been up to that day, this being a time in the world where kids roamed all over town unsupervised and had to be home for dinner. Riding my banana seat bike along the quiet streets to the beach to hunt for sea glass and shells or to a friend's house to play. Walking to my Godmother's house across town to drink homemade iced tea and eat some treat she had around the house for visitors. As the town was small, most kids walked or rode their bikes to and from school in packs, gossiping about each other and what plans could be made for the weekend.

Nowadays the main street along the beach has been tidied up with a paved trail for walking or riding bikes. There are benches and a Gazebo or two for sitting in the shade and watching the water. There is even a lookout pier with a lone binocular machine that provides a view of Staten Island and the Bay for a quarter now. The houses are nicer and what used to be somewhat sleazy bars are now Bistro's and Cafe's with outdoor seating. The auto body shop is an appliance repair center, but the building hasn't changed much. The town feels different than it did then. More upscale and active. The house I grew up in looks so different it's hard to imagine I spent so many years within it's walls.

I bring my daughter there every so often because she likes to ride her scooter on the beachfront trail and then play in the park at the end of the walkway. She likes to listen to the stories of what I used to do when I lived just a few blocks away at her age. When I tell her what it was like, she finds it hard to understand how it was so different. Maybe I do to, but sometimes when I'm there with her, I see in my minds eye another young girl racing on a yellow banana seat bike, the scent of saltwater drifting on the summer wind.