Where will ‘God’s Waiting Room’ be?

Written by Opinion Thursday, March 22, 2012 01:00 am

To the editor:

Sometimes we must listen to our kids. They think it is a no brainer - unload our Diamond Beach townhouse and keep our Naples, Fla. condo. The days of dual ownership are gone. Economics is about choices, and these shaky times force us to choose one or the other. In other words, where will God's Waiting Room be?

My college educated progeny contend that our part of the barrier island is a tax bonanza for Lower Township. We're a forgotten tribe. We send few if any kids to its schools. We enjoy no police or fire stations within easy reach. We donate to Wildwood Crest's EMTs just to play it safe. When they check the joint during the winter storms, the roads are hardly salted or plowed, yet quite passable along the Crest's thoroughfares. Once a week trash collection is kind of primitive. I am surprised that the kids failed to bring up our notoriously exorbitant property taxes. Their argument is a cogent one, and the little lady and I will give it due consideration in the decision making process. Oops, I almost forget about paying someone who owns the beach a fee to use it.

We have been shore people for as long as I can remember. It started out doing a two week stint in neighboring Crest, then a month, a summer and finally owning your own dream cottage as close to the beach as your wallet allowed.

It was never easy for working people such as us to afford two domiciles, but we sacrificed to make seashore ownership a reality.

My little ones grew strong and healthy summering at the shore. They learned how to make a buck or two waiting tables, life guarding, bartending and bouncing drunks out of Wildwood's drinking holes. We fished about our prized "Perfect Score Dawson.” We made life-long friends.

To me Naples, Fla. has class. It is the best run city in Florida, and I have lived in many parts of the Sunshine State. Taxes are reasonable. Old people like me have access to the best doctors and hospitals in the country. There are activities galore for all tastes and pocketbooks. Only Hawaii beats Naples in the sunshine department.

Sure, we would love to continue our halcyon life-style of six here and six there, but the IRAs have been as productive as fishing for weak fish in Delaware Bay. There are tougher decisions in life I know, like surgery or benign neglect for prostate cancer. As we gather this Easter for our annual family reunion, we'll put the matter to a vote - Mom and Pop, all the kids and their wives and children to see which realtor here or there will be induced by six percent to bereft us of either pristine shore days or our tropically-appointed Naples pad.

Sam Alfonsi

Diamond Beach

(Editor’s note: Sam Alfonsi is headmaster of Collge Bound Learning Center in Broomall and a freelance writer whose work has appeared in major publications across the country.)