Amagansett Girl

The summer I turned 18 was the best summer of my life. Just out of High School with college and our lives awaiting us, my friend Kyle and I spent that halcyon summer in a gatekeeper’s cottage on the East End of Long Island.

The cottage was perfect – two bunk beds, a hot plate, and rent-free; occasionally we’d babysit the owner’s two young children for a few dollars. Every day we rode our bicycles to the Amagansett Farmer’s Market for fresh fruits and vegetables; for entertainment we borrowed books from the library and walked across the street to the beach. We had nothing - and we had everything: the freedom to do nothing all summer, and the future to do everything we could dream of.

That was a long time ago. Some of my dreams never came to pass; some turned out to be not what I had expected. But then other truly amazing things happened instead, and so the twists in the road made up for the dead ends.

My family and I love the East End and vacation there every