Long Island Proud: Why Long Islanders Love Long Island

I am not from Long Island. However, my wife is born, raised, educated and lives with me on Long Island. Over the last decade I have learned how special Long Island is to "all" Long Islanders. There is a certain kinship of being a Long Islander that I have never seen anywhere else in my 65 years. I have sat through interviews with Billy Joel, Alec Baldwin, while listening to other with interviews with Howard Stern and Jerry Seinfeld and one thing they all say over and over, they are from Long Island, they live on Long Island, they love Long Island, they consider themselves quintessential Long Islanders, just as everyone else born and raised on the island also maintains.

It really is one big family!

When we travel abroad, my wife can spot Long Islanders and within three minutes they will be talking all things Long Island. It instantly becomes a how they knew people from our town and how she knows people from their town, most times everyone knows someone in common. There is a safety in conferring with a fellow Long Islander while off the island. I am always amazed how tight real Long Islanders are with each other.

Some Google facts: The 2015 census put the population of Long Island at 7,838,722, reportedly making up 40% of New York State's population. Long Island is the most populated island in any United States state or territory — hello, Manhattan.

Actually it is the 18th most populated island in the world,, including #3 Great Britain and Taiwan at #7. Long Island is ahead of #19 — Ireland.

So there really are a lot of Long Islanders and whether they are rich, poor, old, young, black, white, Latino or whatever in a waiting room of an airport, doctors office, or even at the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles in a few seconds they are talking all things Long Island. So why this bond?

As a non-Long Island native, I think the reason starts with the proximity to the ocean, Sound and bays. When you are on Long Island, you have a feel for beaches. A second reason is that before World War II there was a different nature to the population on Long Island. When you venture to the North and South forks of Long Island you run into 12 generation Long Islanders, but not so much in Merrick, Levittown or Massapequa.

Many Long Island towns are places where hardworking blue collar workers took their claim to buy an affordable house and raise their families after the Depression and after World War II. It seems no one ever left. They found work wherever they could. That's why these days everyone on the island knows someone who does something in the service industry. Plumbers, carpenters, electricians, builders, demolition specialists, car dealers, car repair experts, driveway pavers, lawn specialists, not to mention the professionals such as the doctors, lawyers, teachers, the CPAs — and who doesn't know at least 15 real estate agents?

I am convinced there is a certain natural gravitational pull that keeps native Long Islanders on Long Island even when jobs are scarce and times are hard.

Another amazing thing about Long Island men are their toys. Power boats, fishing boats, sailing boats, airplanes and motorcycles. Long Island is the heart of great custom motorcycles, just ask Billy Joel. I think he'd rather talk fishing and motorcycles more than music any day.

Before I came to Long Island I lived in Manhattan and driving in Manhattan on a regular basis is a luxury bloodsport — most people use public transportation or taxis and now Uber, too. On Long Island driving "your car" is a right of passage. I thinks some of the worst traffic jams I have ever been in were not on the Cross Bronx Expressway or FDR Drive but on the Long Island Expressway and parkways around rush hours. But we are comparing "unpleasant" anytime, anywhere a highway or major roadway comes to a stop and we encounter a "what's going on" situation.

Lastly, the biggest reason I believe Long Islanders love Long Island is somewhere, somehow all Long Islanders feel their freedom on the island. They can go, they be, they can feel at home all over the island because even if they are 60 miles from home they are still on the island.

Many are proud their families came and stayed and still dwell on the island. Many are glad they are networked to find places to live and work in the place their forefathers chose to go for it. And finally, is there any better place than Long Island for a backyard BBQ and swimming pool party? Probably not.