For this issue, we asked our writers to talk a bit about a place they missed the most while quarantining.  

By Taylor Politi
Sports Editor

Dear Crandon Park Beach, 

I miss you. 

The beach has always been my favorite place. Ever since I was a kid, when I was in a bad mood my parents would take me to the beach. Living in Miami, I think almost everyone has fond memories of the beach, whether it is swimming, surfing, watching the sunset, or getting a tan.  You, in particular, however, hold a special place in my heart. Every day when I drive to school I cannot help but think about you just a couple of miles down.

I never knew about you when I was a kid. I had never even been to Key Biscayne before I started high school. Then I started at MAST and you were this mysterious presence I had heard about but had not seen. You were so close, yet so far. With nobody in my friend group driving yet, we said when the first one of us got our license the first place we would drive to would be the beach at Crandon. I was the first to get my license and I think the second day of having it, even in the middle of the winter break, I picked up my friends and we went. You represented us getting our new freedom. From that day on it was us and Crandon Beach: a love story.

You became a constant, not only in our lives, but in the lives of most of the students at school. Every high school has its “thing” that all the other schools know and talk jealously about. You are ours. We have you just five minutes away. No matter what was going on outside of our perfect “beach bubble,” we knew that whenever we came to see you we would have a great time. In all of our pictures we took, you would be in the background with waves rolling, almost like you were smiling back at us. 

I have made so many memories with you over the years. Whether it was going to a party at the cabanas, or going by myself to breathe in the ocean air, I have and always will cherish you. The hardest part of this quarantine has been my time away from you. I planned on these last few months being crammed with beach days before we all go our separate ways for college. Still, I know the first place we will be once quarantine is lifted is reunited with you. We will come back to remember all the old memories and we will continue to make new ones, even if we only have college breaks to do so. You will be an excuse to bring us all back together. It is what you do best. You are beautiful that way.

I miss you.

Sincerely,

Taylor Politi