Back to the Future

Wildwood, New Jersey is a beach town populated by Victorian houses in pastel hues, an old fashioned boardwalk with several entertainment piers, and motels with names like: Oceanic, Sea and Shell, Blue Palm and Aquarius; many with futuristic logos from the past. They are neither fancy nor elegant, but they are undeniably special. These are the sort of unique places that you just know families return to year after year; possibly generation after generation.

Our motel, the Isle of Palms, had its name displayed in a huge casually elegant font in colors reminiscent of sand at sunrise on the shower curtain. The whole thing smacked of stepping back in time. I kept expecting Lucy and Ethel to step out of the next room in their bathing costumes. Yeah. This place inspired me to say things like "bathing costumes".


It's the same feeling I get when I pass a bar - no - a lounge - with a big neon martini glass on its sign and retro graphics. I always feel like a cocktail there would have an air of sophistication that knockin' a couple back at my local watering hole could never attain. I'm equally certain that that would not be so, so I never go into those bars. I don't want to shatter the illusion. Believing a place like that could still exist makes me happy.


Being at the beach makes me happy.

Being with my dear friend (since Jr. High, thank you very much) makes me very happy indeed.

Me and Ellin on the boardwalk. Honest to God, I didn't notice how similar our ensembles were that day until I posted this picture. Good Lord. I suppose it's true what they say: Great minds think alike. Our minds have been achieving greatness together for well over 30 years. Maybe that explains it.