Why Social Distancing Promotes the Return of a Classic Summer

There’s always a long drive to get to somewhere remarkable, a sort of quest, but instead of evil spells and dragons the challenges are from jostling for armrest space with your sister and having to wait twenty minutes till the next restroom stop.

Ice cream expedition with a makeshift mask.

Once the highway filters into a one lane road, then a sandy beach drive, your arrival is signaled by squawking gulls staking their territory. You leap from the car while parents inspect the environs, unloading groceries of snack pack cereals and a lot of condiments. This will be your home for the most memorable weeks of summer and you will find that needs are paired down–a good sunscreen, boogie board, cold drinks, sandwiches sealed in plastic wrap and snack-sized chips packed in an Igloo. (Pringles work well because they are protected from the sand.)

Beach walks is a great family connector.

An entire day can be spent on the beach. Sand and water are great for building castles and body surfing, the endless walks that break down thoughts that tangle the mind. The ideal is having recurring family summer experiences that weave into the fabric of a calendar tradition, that same summer place where tastes and experiences are basic and always the same, like how you spend the holidays or what you eat when you visit your favorite auntie.

Cinnamon rolls unfurled from a can is the extent of breakfast cooking.

Pre-COVID-19 and our summer place of East Hampton delivered to the needs of New Yorkers on vacation. There’s the daily visits to the coffee shop with a Manhattan location and vegan muffins, served by baristas with a degree in hospitality. The challenge to secure decent dinner reservations and angling for rack time with other shoppers. Social distancing has renewed the classic summer experience, reignited the appeal of beach and water activities to provide all that you need, perhaps a morning of homemade cinnamon rolls or a Beach Hut run for something cold.

Post-ice cream moment.

Not one of my summer memories include what we watched on television, I don’t recall if there was even a television, but I do remember the piano with missing keys, books I read and punching up a sentence with the right adjective in the Mad Libs my mother gave us for the trip. We also had a new kite and board games became high competition once hands were cleaned from s’mores-stained hands.

We enjoyed one dinner out, ice cream outings were more regular, and perhaps a movie when my sister was old enough to take me so my parents could have some time together. COVID-19 has countless drawbacks, enough for it to be sited as one of the worst years in history, but it does have its plus sides. Notably that it has helped us to simplify and rethink our digital lives. To spend more time engaging in true experiences and connecting with family.