The Mustard Seed
Recently there was a reading in church from the New Testament about the tiny mustard seed outgrowing all other garden plants and reaching a height of ten or twelve feet so that the birds gather under the shade of its branches. I enjoyed that reading so much, but instead of thinking about my Hampton’s garden, it reminded me of thoughts and experiences in my youth that grew to be a major part of my life in my later years.
This is what happened to my family and me with regards to our love of The Hamptons—we didn’t need a lot of exposure to the beautiful beaches, sunsets, wonderful fishing for fluke and bluefish, and that special light…
In our early 20s, my husband and I separately visited the Hamptons with our friends. Loved all of it—the people, the music, again the beach, oh OK—and the partying!
Later when we were married with children, we spent many vacations staying at a resort that encompassed our small boat—cruising the beautiful bays, teaching waterskiing, meeting wonderful people who became lifelong friends. We always gathered on the lawn for evening BBQs and singing to our friend Barry’s guitar playing. Every summer was labeled as the current hit song, e.g. the John Denver “Country Roads” summer. What a great time! We’ll never forget the year that the last large cottage hosted a bunch of women who were, of course, invited to the sing-a-long as were all the resort’s residents. When we started singing we were overpowered by these beautiful voices, and everyone else just shut up. We discovered they were a group of Dominican Sisters on vacation! We were no longer impressed with our own singing after that—but we kept at it anyway. Meanwhile, the mustard seeds were flowering a wonderful dark yellow.
Our one-week vacation became two weeks—sometimes consecutive and other years one week in July and another in August. As our three daughters grew up, they experienced the Beach Clubs on the ocean and later The Boardy Barn. Eventually, one daughter met her future husband at Dockers—good find.
So the mustard seeds were growing and encompassing the next generation. Last year on Memorial Weekend three generations discovered a seal on the Inlet Beach to the delight of all especially our 8-year old grandson.
Just before Jim and I retired, we bought a house in The Hamptons. It was a compulsion; we had to live the rest of our lives in “this scene.” Don’t want to be redundant, but the light, the beaches, the art and music, the sunsets, the wetlands, the birds—did I mention the fabulous restaurants with the freshest of seafood? My goodness, there’s “Dan’s Papers” to enjoy every week and to find out what’s happening. If you’re into the celebrity scene, The Hamptons seems like the favorite place of that crowd. And why not? There is something for everyone here. Don’t know if their love of the place started as a tiny mustard seed like ours, but some of those seeds might have blown their way and grew to the need to just be here.
Yes, all those experiences growing over the years—“those were the days my friend, we thought they’d never end” and happily they haven’t for us.
