Positive omens? Dec. 24, 2023

In a week heavily endowed with omens, I thought for certain seeing the funeral procession on our way to Asbury Park posed a dark day ahead.

After the amazing omen from our Thanksgiving trip (the whales), I hoped for nothing to counter this positive vibe.

The trip down went smoothly, with the except of a few whacko drivers pretending to be Indy 500 racers, and we parked in our usual spot near the top of Asbury where it interacts with Cookman and took our usual stroll, peering into the old merry-go-round house before passing the fake Christmas tree of lights, the Empress Hotel (with its rainbow street crossing) and down the board walk from the Casino to the Coliseum. Even though we had arrived late, the boardwalk was largely empty – although there were a few groups of people on the beach, foolishly standing on the slick jetty stones to pose for pictures.

Even inside the coliseum, the only crowd was at the coffee shop, and even this was less well-attended than we expected for this time of year. All of the shops were open, but sparsely occupied.

We took our place on the coffee line, then took the coffee out side and sat on the far side, watching the waves and other people posing for pictures near the art work on one of the abandoned buildings.

We walked down to a portion of what Springsteen called Thunder Road to look at the coliseum front where we had noticed the Seasons Greeting from Asbury Park sign missing during our Thanksgiving trip; it was still missing. Later, we found someone had either relocated it to Main Street or had put up a similar one over the street.

Warmed with coffee, we braved the walk back up towards Ocean Grove, pausing at the Paris-like string of locks on the fence before we headed south, noticing a very large bird seated on the top of the wooden cross on the Beach.

This turned out to be a hawk perched there, my second such sitting in a week, and if the forecasters are right, an extremely good omen, a sign of protection and positive vibes for the future. Maybe not as good as seeing whales like we did last time, but significant in that someone is clearly watching over us.

The pier out from Ocean Grove was closed – someone said someone had ordered it closed after Thanksgiving, though many people cluttered on the beach on either side, especially near a small Christmas Tree in the sand, surrounded by four candy canes.

We sat and stared out at the waves, when a couple passed us on the way down to the sand, possibly wanting to go onto the pier, yet making the best of it. Then, unexpectedly, the man kneeled before the woman, holding out a box that contained an engagement ring. Nearby, a woman – who had been pretending to take pictures of the ocean, started taking pictures of them, a prearranged meeting in order to document the event. A moment later, a dozen other people came laughing and hugging, all part of the elaborate plot of which only the bride was unaware.

We left them and made our way down Main Street in Ocean Grove, passing the Majestic and then all of the shops on the northern side. Across the street, a man (relatively skinny) wearing a Santa Claus outfit headed in the direction of the beach, pausing only long enough to wave at us. If he said “ho ho ho” I didn’t hear it.

Further down Main we found the house full of odd decorations, something I had missed during our Thanksgiving trip and feared the family had moved on, or passed away, the way the old gay man had near Deal Lake (his amazing tribute to his lover who had died of AIDS) who had died and the house was stripped of its ornamentation. Fortunately, I had looked at the wrong block during Thanksgiving and seeing the house as it had been, was a pleasant Christmas gift.

The walk exhausted us. So, when we got to Cookman, we did not pause in the usual shops but hurried back to the car and the drive north again – hoping to reach home before it got dark (I hate driving the dark) and we did, our Christmas stocking filled with what appeared to be positive omens for the upcoming year.

Hopefully, this is so.

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