As I continue to watch the news and look at photos of the damages caused by Sandy, my heart truly goes out to everyone who have and who continue to suffer. Seeing the devastation first-hand in some of my most beloved Brooklyn neighborhoods has been difficult. Most of my family resides in New Jersey and it is a huge relief that they are all safe and sound. I feel incredibly lucky.
If you grew up in or near to Jersey, it’s likely you are particularly attached to one or more of the towns along the Jersey shore. My shore town of choice happens to be Seaside Heights. My family vacationed there every summer for pretty much my entire life. It’s a place that has always been incredibly sentimental to both myself and my family. Watching the reports of how Sandy has left Seaside and other towns ‘down the shore,’ is heartbreaking. Just a few weeks ago, I headed to Seaside with my sister, April and her husband, Michael to shoot their two year anniversary photos. As adults, we’ve woven this place into our lives just as seamlessly as we did as kids, creating new memories and recounting old memories when we visit.
When April and I walked that boardwalk together we couldn’t help but laugh (a lot), recounting memories shared with our parents, cousins, aunts, uncles and friends. We commented on how the rides were pretty much identical to what they were as kids and which ones we loved the most. We mimicked how I used to pinch my nose and comment in a funny voice on how terribly I felt the sausage stand smelled each time we passed it or how my parents sometimes rented a stroller for me until the age of about 8 (I truly wish I were exaggerating on that), because I didn’t like to walk too much. We thought about the toys we HAD to win (pogo ball anyone?!) or how we could play in Central Arcade for hours with our grandmother. We chose to eat our pizza at The Sawmill, because it’s where we ate as kids and we love how the slices are still bigger than our heads – even now. So while our “Please Hammer Don’t Hurt’em…” jump suits were replaced by “Call Me, Maybe…” cropped shirts and Angry Birds and iPads hang as prizes where our Care Bears and Discmans did, the feeling of the board walk was exactly the same.
Today I’m sharing April & Michael’s shoot with you. I hope these images accurately capture the place we loved as kids and continue to love as adults. I look forward to seeing Seaside and all its neighboring towns come back stronger than they were before, so with that thought is a link to Rebuild the Jersey Shore on Facebook, for those of you interested in volunteering or keeping up with the relief efforts.
Thanks for reading and I hope that you and your loved ones are all safe and well.
xo,
k
