Today marks three years since Hurricane Sandy devastated my town in Ocean County, New Jersey. I took this picture on Superbowl Sunday 2013. This was the first roller coaster I had ever been on as a child.
Today I want to share with you “An Open Letter to All the Shore Kids,” which I wrote on Halloween 2012. Originally posted on my Tumblr page, I wrote this open letter in hopes of making a few of my friends smile. I wanted us to remember how wonderful our lives living on the Jersey Shore were together, because once we saw a massive roller coaster sitting in the ocean, our homes destroyed and our towns underwater, we all knew it would never be the same. They shared it on their social media and it kind of took on a life of its own from there. The day after I wrote it, USA Today and CNN contacted me. They both published it. It was the first time anything I had written went “viral.” It is the reason a lot of you know my writing today.
On the second anniversary, I wrote a follow-up article called “From One Shore Kid to Another: How We Feel About Sandy Two Years Later,” about my thoughts on my hometown and Sandy. That was published on Elite Daily. In this article, I wrote: “I love my salty-aired hometown. And as long as there is sand I can dig my toes into and sunsets over the bay, I will never say otherwise.”
This past June, I wrote an article for the Huffington Post called, “Jersey Shore Staple Takes Final Bow,” about the demolition of Joey Harrison’s Surf Club in Ortley Beach, NJ. A family-owned beach and nightclub destroyed by Sandy.
Lastly, I wanted to share with you a song that has resonated with me due to these events. Eric Church’s song, “Give Me Back My Hometown.” “These sleepy streetlights on every sidewalk side street/Shed a light on everything that used to be.”
I invite you to read the articles and share with me YOUR memories of the “Jersey Shore.” Comment or Email me if you want! alicia.cook86@gmail.com