Hurricane Sandy washed away our summer beach but not our memories!

Here is a photo of my husband sitting in the sun with our cat on a beach chair in our living room.  We have yet to buy furniture for our new home, and perhaps it will be a long time before we do, but the pleasure of a rocking chair and sun are still ours.  This rocking chair is older than me, being made before 1970. It spent most of its time sitting on the porch of a shore house in Manasquan New Jersey.  My husband has memories of his childhood and youth spent rocking on that chair, breathing in the salt air of the Jersey shore.  By the time we met his parents had sold their beach house and the chair had been given to my husband.  We kept it on the front porch of our house for 12 years before moving west.  I didn't know how important the chair was, until my husband had left for Utah and it became my job to repaint and fix the cushion of the chair.  I didn't know all the memories of family it held.  Now as I sit in it and enjoy the morning sunshine and view of the snowy rocky mountains I feel for the loss those in New Jersey are dealing with after hurricane Sandy devastated the area's of the Jersey Shore we loved so much.

Here is a photo of my family at Carlson's Corner.  The place my husband says makes the perfect milk shake.  There is no other place where you can get a "drinkable" milkshake, and believe me my husband tries to teach the world how to do this and no one seems to pass the test.  This was our burgers and fries destination when we would visit the beach. 

Here is a photo of Carlson's corner after Sandy.  The doors are ripped off and the sand is piled high.  I'm sure that I can not even understand the damage to this building.  But it makes me sad to think that it may not be repaired.

Here is the restaurant next to Carlson's corner, the Riverside Cafe. On our honeymoon we had breakfast here each morning.  With the kids we would stop for ice cream or a piece of cheese cake.  It was the more upscale beach side dining area.  Again Sandy filled it with sand, took all the doors off and who knows what other damage has been done.

Here is our family at Gee Gees.  This is where you got the best pizza right on the boardwalk.  It also had the arcade that we loved to go to and play games to win candy.  I think we spent more time here than at Carlson's.  Our family spent every Saturday that we could at the beach in the summer.  As we walked along my husband would share his childhood memories.  What was the same and what changed.  Where he hung out and where he would skate board and surf.  He always had a memory to share.  He longed for the days when the kids would be older and he could teach them how to ride a surf board.  Most of the time though we were considered by the "beach crowd" to be "Bennies".  In fact I remember being called that at one point.  Though it didn't matter to us, our time at the Jersey shore was special. It was our family time and was enjoyed so much.

Here is Gee Gee's after the storm.  It is so sad to see all of this ruined.  My mother in law said that the stoves for the building fell through the floor and were found in the basement of the building. I wonder if they will be able to rebuild.

This is a photo of the bathrooms and what used to be the Pavilion.  You could sit on the pavilion and watch the surfers.  We used to walk from one end of the board walk to the other.  But now it seems there is no board walk.  From the photo's it looks to be torn to pieces.

I've heard that so far 70 houses have been condemned and the owners will not be allowed to rebuild.  That only people who use their houses as year round residences will be helped by FEMA, and many don't know where to start when thinking of rebuilding.  So many houses have been flooded and filled with sand and seaweed.  Much of the work of cleaning out will have to be done by hand.  A daunting task if you ask me.

I wish now that I had taken more photos of the beach houses when we were there on the weekends to show the change.  There is so much devastation.  The board walk is gone and I've heard that in parts there is a 12 foot drop to get down to the waters edge.  This is the beach side view of some of the houses we used to go by.  One used to be owned by my husbands uncle.

Here is the street side view of the houses. Their should be a road here, not piles of sand.  I can't imagine what the inside of these houses must look like.  It was hard to be so far away and just watch and wait for photos.  But I have been thankful not to have lived through the storm and loss of power and all the trials that came with it.  It seems as if this storm washed our favorite beach spot away.  I hope that they will rebuild it.  I'm not sure when we will get back there, and it will be interesting to see the changes.

I love this photo of my daughter looking out to the ocean from the top of a life guard boat.  I pray for all who have been affected by Hurricane Sandy.  I hope you are able to rebuild and restore your homes and businesses. 
G.G.