Everyday In East Hampton is Christmas

It’s Christmas time on Long Island. This will be my 24th Christmas on the island in my 72 years. I landed on the island by chance, a decision I never questioned. I am a forever tourist. My high school yearbook quip stated, “Can be found anywhere but at home!” Yet now I have found my home on Long Island.

I have had the opportunity to be acquainted with the folks who for generations have populated and thrived on the east end. They are a tough, resourceful and a kind hearted bunch with an innate ability to filter through the B.S. of visitors, tourists and people like me. When I crashed landed on the east end it was post a crushing divorce, failed family business and then a short Manhattan career that ended on 9-11 when after attending some tragic funerals I realized it was time to move on. My midtown office was not close to the buildings but I smelled the smoke daily until I just knew I had to leave. After fate brought me to the east end, I figured I would hibernate one long cold winter in East Hampton Village until something happened. The something that happened was sailing in beautiful Gardiner’s Bay.

East Hampton over time gave me a loving wife and the ability to write what was on my mind and get it printed and posted all while sailing from May to November. I sail in a small Catalina I bought ($1800) from Southampton College back when it existed. My first few years saw me juggling five jobs to exist year round. My “tony Westchester” children pronounced I was “hiding in the Hamptons,” yet what I was doing was learning about the soul and spirit that makes the east end life the very prize it is.

I was a guest at Christmas, Thanksgiving, and other major holidays of local folks who invited me to their tables, homes or inns. Through writing I met my Cindi who lived up island in Patchogue. It was a well worth drive from Ditch Plans, Montauk where I was living to Patchogue where she lived and worked. Now we are married and live in East Patchogue just a golf shot from the Great South Bay. My daily used sailboat is still in Gardiner’s Bay because that’s where I prefer to sail it!

Life is a day to day process measured in years, some good others not as good. Occasionally bad things happen like the loss of good friends yet somehow we carry their souls with us. I wrote this post to thank the many folks of East Hampton Town who have assisted me and who understand how every day in East Hampton Town is Christmas Day. Each day is a gift of ocean air, big sky sunrises and sunsets, with breezes that sooth in the summer and menace in the winter.

There is no doubt that if you live on Long Island you know the powers of the ocean, the bays, the beaches, the history and the gift the east end is.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!