Hometown

We made a last minute decision to run to a local spot for dinner recently. We went down to Amagansett to a place that's open year 'round and is a good spot to get a simple burger. So we sat in a booth and there were few other people there at 5:30. But by 6:00 another couple came in and sat across from us. I knew the wife and nodded hello. By 6:30 the place had filled up nicely and I think we knew almost everyone who had come in. Behind us was a retired local cop whose son was in the same class as ours. On the other side was a town trustee who've we've known for many years. At a table in the front window was a family like ours, with three generations eating together, the oldest of which I recognized from a local store where they worked.

I was struck by the fact that we could identify almost everyone there and was also reminded that spring is here and in another few months we'll be hard-pressed to go into any restaurant and recognize another soul in the place. What a different community this is in season!

I think its safe to say that those of us who live and work here love it for the place it is for nine months out of the year. From September through May we can go out for a drink or a bite to eat and say hello to half a dozen people we run into doing the same thing. The other three months we tolerate, for the beauty of the surroundings and the fact that the feeling of being "faceless" in the crowd of summer visitors is a small price to pay for the privilege of being here.

I live for those feelings of being part of a close community. I loved going out for a burger in March and being reminded of that.