Long Island, this one's for YOU

  After a month of nanny duties in July, I am  finally on summer vacation. During these free days I have been doing lots of things to keep myself busy: mainly flexing my cooking muscles, but also walking, shopping, mani/pedis, Pintristing, and reflecting.
  For me, reflecting can be quite dangerous, but I can't help it. It has really been tough on me this summer, knowing it is the first summer of my life that I won't be spending at home  my parents house where I grew up, good ol' Long Island

I really took advantage of all things Long Island:

*living a 3 minute drive from a beach

*having good friends around

*drunken fun with friends at Alive after 5

*readily accessible and delicious mexican food

*bbq's on our back deck with a gas grill

*laying out in a lawn chair readying a book

*boating

*Mikes Hard Lemonades

*the salty smell of the Great South Bay

*the sound of the Ice cream truck winding around the corner endlessly humming 'do your ears hang low'

*evening walks to the beach

*walking barefoot across the grass to check the mail

*my brother and his friends making ear piercing noises from the garage while listening to really bad rap music

*the roaring of motors from cars, boats and motorcycles, waterskiing, fireworks over the bay

*the list is endless.

coffee creamer, te echo mucho de menos

mom and dad, and margaritas in travel mugs 

  There are things however that I am perfectly happy living without: mosquitos and the people at pathmark being two. But things I truly miss most are my friends, and my family. I miss family gatherings at my grandmas, and I miss running into people I know, familiar faces.

   I guess it's understandable to miss these things, and I know I can't let it get me down, I know, because I do have a great life here, the only problem is that its a different life, separate from a life I miss, a life where everyone I know is living without me, and I can only fear what is happening to my place in that life while I am not there. Is it fading away? Do people think of me the way I think of them? Am I missed? Sadly, Im pretty sure everyones lives are continuing on normally, without me there, readjusting the slightest bit to replace the tiny, insignificant gap that I left behind, while I attempt to readjust my life to fill the crater-sized voids that I have brought here with me.

In these times, Billy Joel seems to be the only appropriate music to listen to:

"say goodbye to the oldies, but goodies, because the good old days weren't always good and tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems"

"there ain’t no island left for islanders like me"