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I realized
several years ago that Point Lookout is the center of the
universe. No matter where I went throughout life all roads
seemed to lead back to my birthplace. There would be the
occasional, "Oh, Point Lookout, I know where that
is" or "Yeah, I’ve been there, what’s the
name of that bar, Chico something?" and I’d politely
smile as they’d say "I didn’t realize people
lived there in the winter time." I learned to
graciously accept my place as a small town girl and to
expand my geographical repertoire, as my acquaintances and
radius to Point Lookout  grew.
I found I had developed a
standard dialogue to the much asked question,
" where are you
from?". To the inquisitive Long Islander: "Point
lookout is right next to Long Beach on the South Shore
near Jones Beach…that’s right Lifeguard night…Malibu…right".
To the neophyte Manhattanite: "…South shore of Long
Island, about 50 min. from the city, no, no it’s not the
Hamptons (Thank God)". To the international set: "…It’s
a quaint little town in New York on the South Shore of
Long Island, you can actually see it flying back from
Europe as the plane prepares its final descent into
Kennedy." When my job once took me to the Far East I found
this put to the ultimate test. Over dinner one night a
colleague’s friend asked where I was from and as I began
to explain the flight pattern over JFK he interrupted me
to ask if I had a brother named Kevin. He proceeded to
engage the table in a hilarious story of coming to my
house, meeting my mother as well as a cast of Point
Lookout characters that will remain forever in his memory.
I’m not quite sure when the actual realization that
Point Lookout is the center of the universe set in for me,
but I know that my husband started to pay attention to my
ramblings when on our honeymoon in Hawaii we bumped into a
neighbor from Freeport Avenue.
From that day on I think my husband, a Jerseyite,
started to understand my theory, but struggled harder with
understanding my passion for the place. Initially to him
it was a town,  just like any other.
To me it’s a town
where the deli still knows how my mother took her coffee
(light no sugar), where half the library books in the
library still have her name signed in the back and where
our charge account at the drug store still exists despite
the fact that we haven’t owned a house there in five
years. It’s people who come together in good times and
in bad that have grown to become family even when I’m
very far away summering with the in-laws in New Jersey.
My
husband and I had made a joint decision to try out the
Jersey Shore to which some Pt. Lookouters quipped "…but
you have to get up and move your beach chair down there to
follow the sun?!" Despite the inconvenience, we
proceeded.  It’s beautiful down there but I sometimes
found my mind wondering to my two sons who would be fourth
generation in the Point if we were there. I wondered if
they’d ever play Little League as their uncles and even
their mother had done. I wondered if they’d suffer not
knowing the magic word known to all children in Pt.
Lookout in search of a treat "MARYBETH" and I
wondered if I’d ever have the opportunity to console
them when they came in 4th place with twenty
other kids during the running races as so many parents had
done throughout the years.
Despite not fully understanding it, my husband has for
the most part accepted my passion for this special place.
 We recently purchased a house two doors down from my
brother. As the old saying goes when children go off to
marry, "a son is a son till he marries a wife a
daughter is a daughter for the rest of your life."
I
guess I consider myself somewhat of a daughter of Point
Lookout. People have called it an emotional purchase.
Well, call it what you may, just please don’t call my
husband Mr. McGrath if you pass him in the street. Although, I think he’s coming around to my theory, time
will tell.
At a recent business function of my husbands in
Manhattan, I think
it hit home for him. As he introduced me to several
business colleagues, we learned that the coworker seated
next to me had a grandmother who lives on Inwood Ave.
A
senior, initially intimidating manager broke the ice by
revealing that at one time he had owned "that
commercial property with the pizza parlor on it" and
as I made my way to the ladies room I could hear someone
approaching my husband saying "I’m so and so…
Congratulations, I heard you bought Johnny MacDonald’s
house!"
I turned and saw my husbands look of surprise. As he
caught my eye I swear for a fleeting second I saw a
glimpse of that passion as he responded "Yep, Point
Lookout is the center of the universe."
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