Seastreak ferry from Manhattan moving across New York Bay, preparing to dock at the Highlands. By Lee Morgan of Ocean Grove ©
“The Breeze on her Face”
By Lee Morgan:
The GPS was set for the ferry terminal in Highlands, N.J. I was meeting the last ferry of the day originating from Pier 11 in lower Manhattan. The 35 minute drive from Ocean Grove took me along the coast through Asbury Park, Deal, Long Branch, Monmouth Beach, and Sea Bright. Two earlier scheduled arrivals allowed for the parking lot to transform from a sea of vehicles to my own private parking zone. Barbara was arriving on her first 45-minute crossing of the ferry from Manhattan. Previously, she had been using the NJ Transit Rails to make the trek from the City to OG.
The ferry arrived on time. Barbara, with suitcase in tow, and a stride in her walk that I hadn’t seen before, made her way to our car. She was clearly bursting with excitement. Something wonderful had happened!
On the way home a “child-like wonder” accompanied Barbara’s recounting of the crossing by ferry. She drew me into her experience through sheer enthusiasm. Barbara started by telling me that her twelve-hour days were necessary to get the job done, but had caused her to anticipate the weekends all the more. She explained how effortless it was to catch the bus shuttle just one block from her office near the WTC to Pier 11 on the East River. Once aboard the ferry she had a moment to look up at the buildings hovering over the downtown landscape. That experience, she said, is always exhilarating even after 34 years in Manhattan.
She described how the ferry pushed off past the lady in the harbor, then moved out of the Upper New York Bay and under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. She watched New York City and the accompanying edginess of living and working there, literally and metaphorically, take a less dramatic place on the horizon and in her mind. It was as if she were finally getting enough oxygen to every cell in her body. As the ferry approached the Jersey coast, Barbara was animated in her relating how those hovering skyscrapers of which she spoke earlier were, at that point, dwarfed in the distance and how only Number One WTC was truly discernible on the Manhattan skyline. By this time, she said, her fatigue began to transform. The ocean breeze on her face seemingly caused her to shift all her awareness towards the weekend and our life together in Ocean Grove. As the ferry postured to pull up along the dock at Highlands terminal the sky was a canvas of orange and yellow in the final moments before the sun disappeared.
By the time we arrived back in OG, I had experienced vicariously her voyage. It also became clear through Barbara’s recounting how important it is to try to uncover our “child-like wonder” as we experience life.
SEALS and CROFTS with “Summer Breeze.” (Lee suggested the soundtrack song.)
[/audio]