Beach H(e)aven

Memorial Day is a day that commemorates the men and women who have died while in military service.  More commonly, Memorial Day has come to symbolize the commencement of summer, with the opening of the pool and the extended weekend.  The holiday gives Americans the chance to sit in traffic not observed since last Thanksgiving, all in attempt to dim the effervescent shine of the sun’s reflection off the wintery-pale skin.

As such, Kyle and I had been invited to our college friend Kristen’s beach house on Long Beach Island in the quaint, traditional beach town of Beach Haven, New Jersey.  The plan was to be out of the apartment by 6am to avoid the parking lot of I-95. Perplexed by the sun edging its way into my tenebrous interior, I turned to my clock to realize that it was 9am.  So much for avoiding the traffic.

Our arrival perfectly coincided with the groups’ retirement from the beach.  As it turns out, sleeping through my alarm was the first blessing in disguise.  As the day progressed, each sand-snoozer’s hue transformed into tomato-patch red, not the bronze they had been desperately praying for.  I’m not talking about a tender-skin sunburn, I am talking about the kind that prohibits you from walking like a normal human and results in the zombie-swagger, arms elevated, legs apart to avoid all skin-to-skin contact; the intensity that merited medical attention.

That evening, the group displayed the zombie-swagger en route to the Hudson House, more commonly referred to as the Hud.  This house is the best dive bar on Long Beach Island.  A house in the middle of a residential development converted into a bar, it is like an old pair of shoes, slightly warn and tattered, but comfortable and dependable.  We pumped some money into the jukebox, sat down, and observed the surroundings.  I spent most of the evening observing the punch-o-meter, where men (and women) dumped dollars to demonstrate they were the alpha male of the mid-thirties bar crowd.

The second weekend blessing in disguise:  While the company in Beach Haven was honorable, my health was not.  Although I missed my chance to bake in the sun, I suppose God wanted me to commiserate with the group, and consequently, gave me pneumonia.  I am still waiting to discover the blessing.