Tales From the Beach: A Gentle Story about a Gentle Man making a Day Trip.
As I do every weekend morning while down “the shore”, I headed to the boardwalk, coffee and IPad in hands…to sit under the Pavilion at 11th street to relax, read, listen to the surf. As I approached the covering, I notice an elderly man sitting on the front bench, looking out at the walkers and bicyclers going by. I would be heading to the benches further in, facing towards the Ocean, as I normally do…and I had also noticed a young man in his late 20’s approaching the pavilion, with a coffee himself.
…the three of us had intersected, the elderly man sitting on the front bench, I passing him heading to a back bench, and the young man about to sit on the same bench as the “old” man…”excuse me, but is anyone sitting here,” I heard the young man ask as I passed, and the older gentleman answering, “No, make yourself comfortable.”
As I settled in to my routine, I overheard the “old” man ask the younger man “are you down here vacationing?” To which I immediately thought to myself, thank goodness I didn’t say good morning and get stuck talking to him…I just want to read!
The young man answered with a short “yep, my wife shopping”…probably hoping this wasn’t going to continue. “That’s nice,” said the “old” man, “such a great place to vacation.” Nothing else, nothing more…a pause…and the younger man, almost like ‘that was it?’…said “and yourself, down for a vacation?” “Oh, no” he answered, “just a day trip, I live up in Fox Chase in Northeast Philly, so it’s just under a two hour drive for me.” “But, we used to vacation here every year, 1 week, long weekends, we loved it.” “You and Your family, wife and children would come down?” I heard the young man ask; “Yes, every summer,” he answered. “Is your wife with you today?” “No, Nancy passed away five years ago, she had cancer.” “I’m sorry to hear that…how about your Children, do you still come down with them?” The young man asked…”No, our son, Tom, he died in a car accident when he was 19, but he loved Ocean City!”
I found myself fully listening now to the two men talking, I had even turned around to get another glimpse of them both, a better one than I had when I first passed them.
“Oh my, I seem to keep stepping on my tongue, I’m sorry,” apologized the young man. “Oh, no need to apologize, I have wonderful memories of Ocean City. We started coming down when Tommy was only 2 years old, always stayed on 2nd street. We’d walk up to the boardwalk and of course had to stop at Wonderland, couldn’t pass by, to put Tom on the rides. He loved the little boats with the bell. We’d work our way down the boardwalk, having ice cream, before dinner, and Nancy would get so mad at me…eventually we’d make it to Bob’s Grille on 14th street, get a grilled cheese maybe, then head back, halfway there I’d be carrying Tom, who was just too little to make it back awake. As he got older he could of course, as we always went to Bob’s for dinner…eventually even Nancy got into our routine of dessert before dinner,” the elderly gentleman laughed as he told the story. The young man now introduced himself as “Frank”; “very nice to meet you Frank, I’m Ben,” said the elderly gentleman. “Please go on Ben,” asked Frank, “my wife is a “long” shopper!”
I had turned around, yet again, to take a look at the two men, the older one gazing out on the boardwalk as he spoke, and the younger one now completely turned sitting, facing him, fully enraptured with the story…
“Then after Tom died, well we didn’t come down for a while, hurt too much back then. But, one day, we woke up, and said let’s make a day trip to Ocean City. Well, you know, you get in habits, so we parked on 2nd street, and walked up to the boardwalk. Of course we stopped at Wonderland, and walked over to the little boats, I’ll admit, we were sad, but also laughed with memories. We decided to head to Bob’s, and of course had an ice cream on the way…Nancy’s idea this time (he laughed), would get there, and have our grilled cheeses. Did that for years, never coming back for a full vacation, never seemed right without all of us, just did our day trips. After Nancy passed, well I took off a year or so…but you know, life goes on, so here I am, started on 2nd street, on my way to Bob’s, afraid to say, but, now I’m the one who gets too tired halfway, so stopped here to rest a bit.”
When I had turned, to take yet another glance at Ben, I had now noticed I was not the only one under the pavilion listening to this gentle story being told by this gentle man. There was now a jogger who had stopped to rest, not eager to resume his run, and a middle aged couple as quiet and attentive as you would be in church listening to a sermon; his head slightly cocked to hear better, his wife dabbing at her eyes.
It’s hard to describe what I felt at that moment, taking this all in, sadness for sure, but a feeling of love, family? …the only word that comes to mind…I was feeling “humanity”, a rush of humanity enveloping us all that morning.
Clearly in my mind, I could see young twenty-something Ben walking down the boardwalk with Nancy, both holding hands with young Tom who was walking between them…this same Boardwalk I myself have walked the past 50 years. Might I have passed them one night, decades ago, not knowing them, their story, or how we might intersect many years later in this pavilion?
A young dark-haired woman approached, looking to be 7-8 months with child, and Frank said to Ben, “This is my wife Joan…Joan this is my friend Ben.” “It’s a pleasure to meet you Joan”, Ben said as he slowly stood extending his hand. “Nice to meet you Ben,” said Joan, then asking her husband how long they have known each other? “Just met now”, said Frank. “But I’m afraid it must feel like years, I’ve been talking so much,” laughed Ben. “So off you two go, lots of memories to make, and it looks like soon to be many more,” obviously referring to their expectant baby.
“It was very nice talking with you Ben, I hope you enjoy the rest of your day,” said Frank. “The pleasure was all mine Frank, thank you for letting me bend your ear.” They all shook hands saying goodbye, and as the young couple walked down the boardwalk holding hands, Ben watched them with a smile on his face.
I felt a loneliness for Ben just then, maybe it was wrong to, maybe Ben was happy in his thoughts, maybe I was lonely in mine…whatever the case, I got up from the bench I was sitting and walked towards Ben’s…asking “Excuse me, but is anyone sitting here?” “No” said Ben, “make yourself comfortable”…to which I did, and listened again to a gentle story from a gentle man, making a day trip…
