Posted on 04/28/2015 7:08:17 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Fire Island is a magical place.
After my first trip out to the Pines a decade ago, I remember describing it as "Wonderland" to those friends who had yet to experience it. The moment the ferry slowly pulled into the harbor, I was smiling ear to ear as I watched a sanctuary reveal itself before me. Men were walking hand in hand with no fear of a dirty look or dangerous encounter. Pride flags blew in the breeze from every rooftop. You could dance the hours away into the night and then feel the ocean breeze whip across your face as you traversed the boardwalk home. I came as a 23 year old with a day bag hoping to find a friend to crash with, progressed into a customer of the notorious Botel (a place everyone needs to experience and check off the gay bucket list) and now find myself a share holder in my mid-thirties. I've watched friends become property and business owners and I see the enhancements they bring to our fabled paradise. I hear the laughter of my friends as we have one too many Planter's Punch cocktails at Low Tea and I feel the sadness of an era of men who saw their final sunsets right on the very dunes that I walk on.
It's hallowed ground and pleasure island. It's the lifeblood that gets many of us through the arduous New York City winters.
"So what if slushing ice is pummeling my face, in only a few months I'll be in short shorts on the boardwalk... I can make it... I can make it!"
Throughout my 10 years going to the Pines, the businesses that make up the harbor have seen a number of different owners. Every year, there are new changes and new ideas...
(Excerpt) Read more at huffingtonpost.com ...
If you’re going to, anyway, see my tagline.
If I want to watch “Mean Girls”, I’ll get the movie. It’s not as much fun in real life.
Indeed. My dad was wounded at Iwo Jima, got stitched up, and went back onto the beach.
He was 17.
He had a big scar on his back and when I was a little girl, I asked him about it.
“Oh,” he said casually, “That was from the War. You know...the Big One.”
I can’t tell you how disgusted this alleged person’s rhetoric makes me!
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