We have reached the second stop on this year’s adventure- a town called Love Ladies – home of the arts foundation summer camp we help lead on Long Beach Island, Nee Jersey. This is our fourth year here and it feels great to be back.
As I write this, I can hear and smell the Atlantic Ocean, a few hundred yards to the east. A warm, light breeze is blowing as I sit outside our camper I am listening to the sounds of Sufjan Stevens, the chirping crickets and an occasional passing seagull.
This part of LBI is extremely quiet and peaceful, especially in the evening. Most of the local birds have bedded down for the night and so have the resident humans.
We are on a part of the island that is mostly beach homes, closer to the lighthouse. There’s no restaurants, t-shirt shops or much of anything else here to attract the tourists.
Ours is the only camper on the forty or so acres of the foundation, so it’s very different than where we came from – an RV park with 200 sites and lots of action day and night. As an “introvert with an extrovert tank” I can already feel my nervous system returning to its preferred state. Aaaaah.
I don’t begrudge others their right to party like it’s 1999. In fact, I enjoy listening to their laughter and the sound of them playing corn hole or singing along with their 1980’s Spotify playlist. Thankfully, Beth and I can close the door of our camper and find the kind of solace we prefer. It’s all good.
Being here in this part of LBI is much more our speed. We will get up tomorrow at 6 or 7, take a walk on the beach and then plan our morning for the 11 campers (all five or six years old) who have signed up for our Nature & Music session. After breakfast, we will have three hours with them – singing, taking nature walks to the wetlands, playing instruments, etc. I guess it’s our version of a good time.
To each his or her own. This is what I love best.