Jersey Ger's Lighthouse Tour of the Shore

 An introduction to my journey.  As I turn 55 this year and reflect on my life, I have an overwhelming desire to document it.  I want to investigate the feelings of me as a child and continuing to want a life I imagined.  How that life compares to what I imagined.  How changes and adjustments happen like the ebbs and tides of the ocean.  My husband once wrote for me one of our first Valentine's Days and had it published in the Asbury Park Press in the Valentine's classified section.  "For every wave that comes ashore, my love for you grows more and more".   I want to compare my thoughts and visions to how my life actually turned out.  I hope you join me on my journey and leave comments, as that is a fuel that keeps my going.

 As I wrote some of my memories on my iphone it kept asking me:  who are you with and most of the time it made me a little mad, and I wanted to write.......me, myself and I.  But, I did bring a friend and it was a good book.  I sat on top of the pavillion on a rocking chair and totally breathed and relaxed.  Knowing all the comotion of children running, playing, and being loud didn't concern me.  I was free of responsibilities for the day and it felt really good.  I was the woman who as a child I imagined myself to be.  When I was a child I was the one playing in the sand, running around playing locker tag,  swimming in the pool only to jump out run through the tunnel to swim in the ocean,  doing dolphin dives through and riding waves and building sandcastles.  But, everyday I would look up and say some day I would be sitting on a rocking chair observing all that was around me.  And that day came yesterday and it was fabulous!

This a picture of me and my dad and my sister and brother.   The pool is remarkably almost the same.  It took a beating from Super Storm Sandy and many others storms and time.  This family picture is more then 50 years ago.  The pool was a chilly 67 degrees yesterday.  It is a salt water pool and there are not too many of them around any more.

I had to include this bench in the picture because it is so NOT Spring Lake.  But, there it was among the manicured gardens.  It probably still hasn't been attended to since the storm.

 These are the gardens that haven't changed in all of these years.  After Glen and I traveled cross country for one summer looking to relocate.  We had the desire to take a ride around Spring Lake.  We both agreed Spring Lake is the most beautiful town we have ever seen.

My best observation for my life today is.  Taking a picture of St. Catharines's makes me think of many things.  I was baptized there and so were my children.  But, after taking Art classes I wanted to visit Italy and see all of the churches, especially the ones built during the Renaissance.  But, again I was reminded I was searching for something I was lucky to have been around my whole childhood.  St. Catherine's is the most beautiful church I was most privleged to attend  Sundays.  Glen and I were not married here, we are different religions, but yesterday reminded me we may not share the same religion, but we share the same faith.  Had to take a picture of this bicycle.  It is a Schwinn, blue and white and perfect in every way.  I would always fantasize about having a Schwinn.  You know when I begged my parents for one........they would say that does not mean you have to have one, because everyone else had one.  My eighth grade graduation my mom took me to DJ's bike shop in Belmar and told me I could pick out any bike I wanted.  I was so excited!  It turned into a long and drawn out debate and I came home with the ugliest brown Head (a tennis brand at the time) three speed bicycle.  My mom won.  But, this is when I learned my real work ethic.  If I worked and made my own money....there was no debate......I finally got whatever I could afford and wanted.  I never bought the bike of my dreams, because that one did last me all through high school until I bought my own car and that is a whole other story.  On our first wedding Anniversary Glen and I went to a bicycle shop and bought matching Schwinns.  We were both the youngest of three and shared the same story.  We rode the bicycles from Pt. Pleasant home to Manasquan  and smiled all the way.                                                                                                                                                               Last night when I got home I starting flipping through the book by Anne Morrow Lindburg Gift from the Sea and reminded how brilliant she was comparing life moments to shells.  Then I looked at clothes on the internet and my daughter is so excited about a line of clothes called Virginia .....darn Senior moment....anyway brought me to reading about Virginia Woolf.  And she ironically wrote a book about a journey to a lighthouse.  I can't help but, feel I am on to something here.  But, this
is truly soul soothing to me.  I was lucky beyond words or pictures to grow up in such an ideallic beautiful place and will be forever grateful to my parents.  This was where I called home the first 23 years of my life.  As you can see
by the picture of my mom, I had
a lot to live up to.  I respected her and
her wishes and never wanted to disaapoint her in any way.  We have a good relationship where she will actually tell me how much she appreciates me for our friendship.  I always have some guilt no matter what, but feel she is proud of me.  As a parent
the feeling of pride is the best gift a parent could ask for.  I truely think my mom has had a wonderful life.  I think she was a good mother, but the teenage years of her children turned out nothing like she imagined.  After WWII there was such an ideallic way of life for the American family.  The sixties brought out a social storm into the households that was hard to adjust to.  It was a whirlwind of changes and the younger generation was winning and my parents didn't like that one bit.

I decided for this vacation I would visit a different light house each day.  I have a vacation.  But, we own a store in Asbury Park.  How do I relax,  but not just spend my time on the couch watching TV.  So, a couple of weeks ago I decided to take a road trip each day and visit a different Lighthouse.

 It seems funny to take pictures of places I passed by everyday.  I totally take them for granted.  But, after superstorm Sandy I take nothing for granted.

 Serendipity of the day:  I passed by this mid afternoon on a Saturday in Mid-July and was able to get a parking space.  The song on the radio:  Lighthouse by Ziggy Marley.  The song playing made me feel like there is some kind of devine intervention going on with this journey which is very inspiring and motivating and takes care of my self doubt.  But, the other of finding the parking space is to make people aware that New Jersey is in trouble.  People assume with the traffic and so many people around that business must be good.  Let me just tell you to find a parking spot beachside in Point Pleasant at noon.....it is not good!

 Surprise picture of the day.  Can't wait to do some editing of this picture.  The birds were having so much fun next to the lighthouse in Sea Girt.

Walking towards North End Pavilion and seeing that the relief motifs on the Pavillion were reproduced.

  This panel below is a dedication to the old panels that were destroyed by Super Storm Sandy.  The reliefs are on the building, but I don't know if they will be left as a relief or painted.

I took these with a digital camera in 2009.  It had been on my mind for a long time that something I saw so many times and loved should be in my computer so I could appreciate them at home.  I have many ideas what I would like to do the images, and at the right time I know I will do something with them.

I was so happy to see the suns and most of all the lighthouse.  It is a symbol of light for me.  A symbol of relief for sore eyes.  A helpful building to help someone find their way.  It is reliable and weathers many storms.  It stands tall and proud and lights the way for others.  The government pays attention to the importance of them.  They have the best view of the most beautiful parts of the world.  They stand still while the waves and tides change around them.  I am so looking forward to all the lighthouses I see in the next few days and hope they enlighten me, but most of all make me grateful for this wonderful life!

 So, my day was enriching, enlightning and soothed the soul.   My favorite observation for the day that I would NOT photograph was a man about my age leaning on the rail, baseball cap and sunglasses with a rosary.  I don't know what he was praying for but, as I walked to my car I decided to pray very hard that this man's prayers would be answered.

Since it was a Saturday all the chuches were full of weddings.  I have a wonderful feeling of satisfaction for my life at this age and every wish I ever wished upon a star has come true for me.  I want to document this so my family knows truely what they mean to me.  They are a dream come true for me.