The LIRR and I have a love hate relationship.
It's over priced, gets paralyzed in the rain, and can smell like piss and sound like hell.
But on weekends it can take me back to the place that I know all to well:
The Island.
I drove that Island end to end,
top to bottom,
trying to get lost as a teenager.
Now when I go back
I am driven around by the people who rode with me.
I went out this weekend for my friend Brooke's engagement party
- and I came out a day early for the beach.
My co-worker/friend* Lauren was kind enough to let me and a couple of other co-workers
crash her Long Beach residence, eat her food, and visit the beach which was a block away.
Sure, the LIRR to Long Beach was a crowded, too-close-for-comfort
ride along side my Long Island brethren-
with teenage girls that were so misguided
and under-parented
that I wanted to adopt them and start my own Facts-of-Life type household to teach these girls manners and de-slutify them.
(NOTE: when you wear shorts, button the top button, let your belly button ring be a surprise and hide that tramp stamp. Your floss bikini top already screams loud enough for attention.)
But on the train back...
after the beach
the party at the beach house
the time spent with my "brother" Will
and his awesome girl friend Sam
and a beautiful engagement party
I sat on the LIRR and watched my hometown pass by me.
Out the dirty windows I saw the trees, the baseball fields, the pools, sumps, 7 elevens,
the fire house my Grandfather worked at,
and felt really lucky that this was a place I could go back to and visit.
I leaned my head against the seat and watched it all go by
and thought
I love the LIRR
because no matter how crappy it might be sometimes
it still brings me back to the people and places I love.
*I am fortunate to work in an office with a group of people I can truly call friends.
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