I ♥ New Jersey

 

This is how I want to remember home.....

I haven't been here much the last couple days. Since the storm was moving in back east, I was worried about family and friends. And I watched like many on TV as reports came in about how bad it was. I found a few links that I posted the other day for sites that had instant updates from people out there and photos from them too. And it broke my heart to see what was happening to my home state. Ive been sort of in mourning, it just hurts so much.

I was born and raised in NJ. and even tho I left in 1984, I used to go home several times a yr until the last few yrs when money got tight. I am and will always be a Jersey girl even tho I will never move back. I don't know if its just in the water out there or what but.....Jersey people are tough and have attitude wherever they go. Its just part of who they are. And so even tho the last few trips home I realized, I don't belong there any more, it will always be a part of me.

 And so when I woke up yesterday morning and came online, one of the first photos I saw was one of Seaside Heights (the one above) and the massive damage. I gasped and burst into tears. Even my bf asked me whats wrong and all I could do was point to the screen. For those who never lived there, you see it as really bad destruction from a hurricane and feel bad for the people there. I felt that way with Katrina. But I had no connection down south so that's all I could feel.

 Before and after  :(

But like when 9/11 hit, it became personal to me because I had been in that building many times in my life. And my fav restaurant in the world was at the top. And that's how it is with this .......I spent my dating days down in Pt. Pleasant with my now ex husband. I spent time there at his family beach house.

And when we got married and had kids.....we spend many weekends every summer down at Seaside, sometimes at the boardwalk and lots of time down the road from there at the fishing beach. I don't even know if the fishing beach is there anymore. I haven't seen any photos yet of that part. But you had to go thru Seaside to get there. Its a long spit of land with dunes that you needed a 4 wheel drive vehicle for.

We spent many weekends there, the ex fishing and the kids playing in the ocean or up in the dunes. Many memories of bonfires at night with all the campers and trucks round it like wagon trains of old. And many days of fun on the boardwalk. ...its a part of every NJ persons life. My kids were stunned to see this too and heartbroken. What people don't realize who don't live there is what the Gov. said.

Gov. Christie: "All those iconic places you and I visited at the shore when we were kids are gone. We are going to rebuild, but it is going to take time. The shore is not only the heart of our economy. It is the soul of New Jersey."

Everyone went to the shore...and the heart of NJ was ripped out by this storm. Yes I'm sure in time they will rebuild. It will take a very long time tho. If you have seen the pics, then you know just how much is gone. But it will never be the same.

Once you get "sand in your shoes" from the Jersey shore.....you're hooked forever.