It’s actually been a little over a year since we relocated to the NJ Shore. Weirdly enough, it often feels like our previous life never existed. That or I’m truly experiencing some dementia. Although our 32 years in our former town were truly “the best years of our lives”, there was also the angst of raising a family, financial burdens, mistakes along the way, midlife crisis and the evolution of becoming the “elders” in a town where we once felt we were vibrant and “worthy” participants.  I can’t figure out why it was so strangely easy to detach since there’s a few remaining friends and newly transplanted family in our “hometown” whom we love dearly, other than it was just time for us to create a different flow.

Over the last year we’ve learned a lot about our new location including that our original impressions were not spot on. For example, we did not want to move to a 55 and over community, yet being in a seasonal location lends itself to a higher percentage of seniors residing in this area in the “off season”. We sometimes feel like we are the younger folks in town.  We’ve met other couples our age who are still considering the leap in the upcoming years.

The limited amount of seaside property drives the prices of the land and the homes upward. It’s been amazing to see the amount of money being poured into the community in the way of huge houses, many with columns, pools and elevators. Quickly our little, “salty” town is becoming somewhat sterile, generic and full of manufactured “charm”, losing the flavor of its history of the “Baymen” and its grit to what I describe as a “Disney-like” feel.  We were so disenchanted when it happened in our little hometown village but we hear “it’s happening everywhere”, another sign of just getting old I guess. (Or ha! “You can run but you can’t hide” as they say!)

On the other hand, there is nature; the ocean, the fresh air and the stars at night like we never really saw before.  (That photo above is real, no filters!)   We walk the beach and find treasures, like huge shells, a whale vertebrae or the sighting of a giant beached sea turtle or a nesting snowy owl.  There are couples that we actually socialize with (if you know us, you know we are homebodies) because during the winter and during storms, we’re all in this together.  When the burner goes, we all know the same plumber.  During the off season there is one cozy bar/restaurant open to eat, drink and dance to a live band with pretty regularly, and the plumber hangs out there too.  The people that we hang with are of the older, “salty” crew, they too reminisce about the “grit” and the wayward fun of LBI way back when.

As the tourists, renters and weekend-only residents appear, we realize they are coming here for a reason, to get a piece of what we have every day.  We are in a place that attracts our children (and their children) to spend a week (or more!) enjoying life with us that would be hard to replicate somewhere else. Right now, a little over a year in, it feels right.