Even while still deep in the Pine Barrens, the tang in the air tells me I'm almost there.
It smells of salt, iodine, seaweed, brine and hints of bayberry.
It smells of hot tar mixed with paint thinner, cherry tobacco from Pop Pops pipe, the sweet pastry smell of 'elephant ears', the humidity of morning dew on aluminum chaise lounges on the front porch - especially the one with cracked floral cushions - freshly mixed Tang ("the juice of astronauts"), fresh bluefish with melted butter, Jersey tomatoes and sweet corn, Noxema, baby lotion and coco butter.
It smells like home.
I can remember, 'back in the day', the impatience I felt waiting in line for our turn to cross the series of rickety bridges 'puddle jumping' small islands in order to get to 'our' island.
While the 'new' causeway is a vast improvement, the impatience remains the same!
I'll be an island girl again by dinner!
Off all the bridges I've burned in my lifetime, I'm SO glad this hasn't been one of them!
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