The Stranger I Met Today

Blogger Sarah Huber is a fan of The Stranger I Met Today and wanted to share her recent experiences with a fellow beachgoer.  Read on about her recent trip to the shore...

Good Deeds at the Shore

Today marked the “official” start of summer for me, my first day trip to the Jersey Shore.   The beginning of the summer always starts expensive; go to Ocean City, pay the parking, get pizza and be a good citizen and pay for your beach tags.  Why?  Because there is no real “official” start to a summer without a huge crowd in the water, a busy boardwalk and the smell of Manco and Manco’s pizza (which I still get upset even after almost two years that Mack is no longer a part of the name).    After about an hour drive and arriving in Ocean City, dodging cyclists and half naked people carrying umbrellas, chairs, coolers, and the most colorful beach towel they could find wrapped around their shoulders, we finally hand the parking lady $10 and park at the 5th Street parking lot (a personal favorite).    Today was the perfect beach day.  The sand was burning hot, the sun was bright, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and to top it off the water was jellyfish free!   Perfection.   One of my favorite things to do is people watch.   I laid on my towel between the surf beach and swimming beach and to my right was a crowd of about ten younger people, guys and girls circled around tanning and laughing, followed by a massive crowd of families with umbrellas and tents and trying to get as close to the water and lifeguards as possible and not caring about any ones personal space.   In front of me were two women, in their late 30s, with a very blond little boy.  To the left was a wide-open beach where only surfers were camping out.   

As the afternoon continued on, a breeze started to pick up and in the distance to my right I could see sand building up covering people as they lie on their towels and cover themselves.  Naturally, you turn away from the sand.  As I reached for my cooler for some water to my left, I heard shouting from behind me, “watch out! watch out!”  Who me?  I turned around as an enormous blue tent was rolling down the beach, tumbling past the group of young people, and then “WHACK!”  My reaction was so slow it slammed me; I reached for it but couldn’t get it and it continued to get blown down the beach.   As I get up to run after the tent, I realize I’m not alone; a teenage boy running along side of me, in an effort to save the tent, has accompanied me.  His long lanky arms grab it, “are you ok?”  Ahh yeah, I’m good. Nice save.  He high fived me and when I sat back down, I watched as he walked around from towel to towel, holding onto this tent like it was the last thing he would do in life, asking people if they knew where it came from.    After finding the tents owners (who were in the water at the time of the incident), he helped them break it down and pack it away (to make sure this incident didn’t happen again), and they shook his hand, thanked him over and over and smiled excessively for his help. 

That tent came from several towels away, but it took one of the young teenage boys to my right and a girl in a bikini to actually make an effort to stop the tent from blowing all the way down the beach.   Where were all of the other people?  There were tons of people on the beach, closer then us, and no one was bothering to help these people that weren’t even aware their tent was blowing away.  I admire that young boy, and hope he continues to make that effort in his future and doesn’t just watch things pass him and not help.  I’d like to give him a stamp of approval for a Good Citizen Award.

A huge thanks goes out to Sarah Huber for contributing to The Stranger I Met Today.  To read more of Sarah's adventures, check out her blog at http://travelfitnessandlove.wordpress.com/.