Celebrating Changing Seasons

From the Editor

Yesterday I arrived back in South Jersey with cherry blossoms stuck in my hair and the lingering bliss of vacation in my heart. My daughter and I celebrated the changing of seasons in Washington D.C. at the Cherry Blossom Festival. The descending, velvety, tickle-me-pink blooms served as a reminder that changing seasons are filled with hope, beauty, and new beginnings.

While I am a summer lover, sun chaser at heart, I hold a deep appreciation for the spring season on the East Coast. The days begin to stretch longer, temperatures rise, and the breeze feels light and crisp as tulips and daffodils start to bloom. Spring is a great time to work on a garden, stroll the boardwalk, arrange a picnic, or play a round of golf.

Celebrating Easter or Passover traditions with family is always the highlight of spring.

When I was a kid, we all gathered at my grandmother’s house and hunted for Easter eggs! Unlike the colorful plastic eggs filled with candy, these were actual hard-boiled, dyed eggs! Today’s Easter Egg hunts are much fancier and more complex than they were during my childhood. Modern mothers need to look no further than Pinterest or Google for countless ideas and variations on the classic egg hunt. One of my favorites is putting a small glow stick in an egg.  The egg then illuminates, and having the egg hunt in the dark adds a whole new level of excitement.

As my teenage children outgrew the candy hunt, I could always put a smile on their faces by filling eggs with cash. I’d pull out my spare change and loose bills, filling the eggs with small amounts of money with one exception – “the golden egg.” That special egg had a twenty-dollar bill inside for one lucky teenager. The possibility of finding that egg, with a real payout, kept them coming back year after year.

Holiday traditions give us special opportunities to create memories with our loved ones. It gives us something to look forward to. Sometimes the traditions may seem silly or old hat, but when we look back, they bring us some of our most cherished memories.

For years, my family has walked the Ocean City boardwalk on Easter. I can still close my eyes and see my small children posing with the Easter bunny and the excitement in their eyes during the egg hunt on the beach. Of course, the opening of the rides for the season brought out the most excitement. Now my grown girls and I still enjoy Easter in Ocean City, but it looks a little different these days. We browse through the shops, walk on the beach and grab coffee together.

The holiday traditions may look different than they once did, but the connection and love we share are the same as it has always been.

So dye some eggs, host a seder dinner, or organize a neighborhood egg hunt. However you celebrate the Easter season, Spring is a magical time to be in South Jersey, and I hope that you can stop and smell the flowers.

In this issue is Shore Local, we welcome James Fitzpatrick as Editor. James comes with a wealth of experience and we are so excited to have him on our team!

We hope you enjoy this issue of Shore Local. Please check out the multitude of events and entertainment, along with the features spotlighting the people, places and events that make our area so great.

Shore Local is made possible by our loyal advertisers. Be sure to check out the amazing variety of local businesses and show them some love!

From our family to yours, wishing you a very Happy Easter & Passover!

Peace & Love,
Cindy