The Beach This Summer: So Close, Yet So Far

The+Beach+This+Summer%3A+So+Close%2C+Yet+So+Far

Daniel Piver, staff writer

Daniel Piver

I had an extraordinary experience with the COVID-19 pandemic. A week before the shutdown in NY, my family and I went to Costco. Everything was normal, besides the crazy people taking all the toilet paper. Not only was it semi-normal, but it was also fun. It was our first time in Costco, and I was in awe of the store’s size and all of these different products I had never seen. The day went by,  and although we couldn’t know it at the time, by the same time next week, we would have started quarantine.

When I think about it, that time was the last time until about the middle of May that I would leave my home for an extended period. I had zero social interaction except for the occasional FaceTime with my friends. School continued as I halted. Everything was moving slower, and those three months of quarantine felt like ages. Quarantine was sort of a different experience than I expected. The school was initially a pain in the butt, but I liked online school more than regular school as the months rolled along. I’m not a very social person; however, the months of solitude created bad habits.

As quarantine moved on, summer work eventually started, and I got one of my friends to work with me. It was one of the best work experiences I’ve ever had. We worked in a kitchen at the ABA beach club. At first, it was strange seeing people in mid-May after months of almost no social interaction. Work was more challenging than it had ever been during this summer. Not only were we in a 100-degree kitchen all day, but we were also in masks. These masks ruined my day every day. It was so challenging to keep it on my face. It was itchy and hot; nothing in my life had ever been more uncomfortable.

Usually, I spend some of my summer working and another part of my summer at the beach. The beach is essential to me in the summer. I love to swim, so getting in the ice-cold water is such a relief from a hot day at work or even just sitting in the sun. During most summers, I go to the beach for whole days with my friends and have barbeques and campfires. Coronavirus completely threw all of that fun out the window. Not only did I barely see some of my friends, but the beach was almost non-existent. I was so busy and tired from hot days in the kitchen that I would pass out when I got home. Also, on my days off, I never even thought about leaving the house or exerting myself. This summer was and probably will be the worst summer ever.

Due to my parents’ strict ideas about COVID, which I’m grateful for, we didn’t get take-out food, didn’t see our friends, and didn’t go to the beach; we didn’t even go to East Hampton village. The fact that I went an entire summer without going to the beach once was crazy to me, even though I worked at a beach club. As my parents got more lenient with rules, I saw my friends and got take-out food. In mid-August, I got together with a bunch of my friends to celebrate one of their birthdays. We sat together outside, which felt great considering the months of isolation. We played music, ate cake, and had a real good time. But everything was different. Two of us felt strange, being together again. Everyone felt so disconnected and weird. Even now, nothing feels the same as that fateful last day of school in March.