I’m alright now, don’t nobody
worry about me. So Kenny Loggins says, even though I struggle with his grammar.
We’ve just survived a big
storm on the Island . . . and those in the know realize that’s a capital I on
island.
Round these parts it’s a whole
lot of neighbors helping neighbors, old timers remembering the blizzard of . .
. I’m leaving this blank because I know that somebody is going to refute the
snowfall total of whatever date I put there. The important part being neighbors
here check on each other and if they need a hand, you either extend your own or
offer up somebody else’s.
I tell you what, it’s a
paradox.
Before we moved to Martha’s
Vineyard from Syracuse, I had colleagues tell me how I’d never fit in here, how
it’s virtually impossible to land a newspaper job and if you do, you’ll surely
hate it. Naturally there was the
economic issue. Presidents don’t typically vacation in Syracuse. All I could
muster at the time is the fact that most of my friends hadn’t spent much time
here beyond a vacation trip. Living here year round would be a whole other
story. And so it is.
Having spent a significant
amount of time in Parish, N.Y., I never thought I’d say this again, “It’s sort
of different here.”
But it is. If you like New
England and you like history, particularly American history from the early days
and the whaling days, you will love Martha’s Vineyard.
I’m sure there are lots of
people who wouldn’t even consider us an island. But I’m here to say unless
you’re riding a ferry or paying a whole lotta money for a plane ticket, you’re
not coming to visit. It’s an island.
Period. Maybe the ferry ride is only 45 minutes, but it’s still a ferry ride.
Life here in winter is about
as good as it gets, to me anyway.
Ponds freeze up. Kids go sledding.
Neighbors form book clubs. Libraries teach you how to knit. Writing groups organize
with real writers leading them. You can learn how to cook Indian food or buy
socks made from alpaca wool. And all of this is free, or as I like to say . . .
offered at nominal cost.
Like most things that are
worth it, living here ain’t easy.
You have to look at working
multiple jobs, paying for someone else to watch your children, living in one
house in winter and in a tent on somebody’s lawn in summer. And crazy enough,
at the end of the day, there are plenty of people who choose to live to here.
I know it’s not practical and
I know it’s not entirely sane, but some people are just drawn here like a shellfisherman to his net.
I like to think it’s Jesus.
That’s who I devote most of my crazy decisions to: he knows where I should be
and he probably made it happen. I like to say: If he brought me to it, he’ll
see me through it. That’s the way he rolls.
My trust in a higher power that wants me to survive and have love in my life, is what keeps me moving forward. - Kenny Loggins
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