Sixty-Something: Spring Is Always The Path To The Summer

One thing all sixty-something folks can agree on is we have seen a lot of springtimes. Winters can be long and dreary. They consist of short sun lighted days, with long, cold, dark windy nights. Then comes spring, and slowly, yet suddenly the weather improves, with daffodils starting to pop up out of the ground and buds being visible high up on trees. Spring is the rebirth that comes every year.

On the East End of Long Island, there are warm spring days that are open windows toward the glorious summer days. You just smile feeling that ever warming up daily sunlight. You walk, be it on a beach, a trail, or just around the village to feel spring’s arrival. Soon the osprey will be back at their nests, getting ready to raise their next seasonal family. Forbes Riva, who makes things happen at Three Mile Marina in East Hampton, already posted a photo of the boat yard’s just returned osprey.

I remember celebrating those first spring days when I was in college. Frisbees were flying all over, as everyone was underdressed in cutoff jeans and tee shirts – as if high 50s were low 80s! Even the dogs seemed to be smiling. Ah, youth, so wasted on the young!

I had the pleasure of meeting the woman who is now my wife in Sag Harbor on a full moon night during the beginning of spring. Three years later, we had a springtime honeymoon in Paris, and as everyone knows, there is nothing more romantic than Paris in the springtime!

However, the East End has amazing spring romantic magic too. With the COVID crisis at a most critical juncture, smart safe spacing is still necessary, however that doesn’t mean outdoors walks are not to be enjoyed. Actually, quite the opposite. I heard a psychologist on cable news say this last weekend that not getting out of the house or apartment for walks and experiencing some freedom causes depression. Now that it is spring and the weather is warming up, the doctor advised, “Get out, safe space, wear the mask if you are around others, but make sure you get out. Get that exercise.”

The Egyptians worshiped Isis, who among other things was the goddess of rebirth. The myth was every spring Isis would mourn the death of her husband, Osiris. Her tears would cause the Nile to flood, thus starting the process of fertilizing and renewing the agriculture of the Nile valley. There is more to the story to explain why she mourns his death every year in the spring, but I love the concept of from sorrow comes rebirth, especially after this last year of the pandemic.

My 2021 East Hampton Town Non-Resident Beach Pass is in the mail. I am excited to be able to use all the prescribed town beaches the pass gives me access to. Last summer, the passes were not issued, and I missed some of my favorite ocean beaches and other pass related locations to park at and to get out and enjoy the magic of the shorelines of the East End. The only East End beaches I enjoyed last year were the ones I sailed to. This season, I intend to visit them all, take long, healthy walks breathing in that fine ocean and bay air.

I also enjoy the process of driving the back roads all year-round, but especially in the spring, just to watch the farmers till the soil and plant the crops. Then over time, as I drive by daily, I watch the dirt produce little green sprouts of the coming Long Island corn, along with the strawberries and other crops. When summer comes, the fields are luscious green. Some of the roads I take such as Wainscott Main Street have those views of the large field of crops going right to the foot of the Atlantic, a yearly view, unlike me, that never gets old. Yes, spring is always the path to summer and now that it is spring, we are all on that path!