The West Neck Pod: Thank You from "The Fairy Pod-Mother"

Thank you to all of the co-conspirators who concocted the plot to surprise me at my own party with such a loving acknowledgment of my Pod-nurturing efforts...I thank you for your kind words (especially Sue Robinson, who had the guts to say them into a microphone!), and for your wonderful and so-perfect gifts. I love my new embroidered and personalized "West Neck Pod" beach bag and all of the treasures you filled it with: my colorful new beach towel; the lifetime supply of Glide; my "H2O Girl" t-shirt, the photos of me in various aquatic settings, some with magnet-backs to post on my refrigerator so I can see them every day!; the bottles of wine, especially the "Super Swimmer" chardonnay!; the votive candleholders with the "Sailboat" motif; the necklace Margot made from a piece of beach glass she found at West Neck Beach; the booklet of "West Neck Pod Vegetarian Recipes," published by "Pod Press" and compiled by Bonnie, who sampled every one; the three varieties of Tate's chocolate chip cookies (who knew you could get gluten-free Tate's cookies!);the YMCA bathing cap for my inevitable "wintering-over" in the Chlorine; the grossly hilarious "Got strap-ons?" shirt whose ultimately innocent reference to our "SafeSwimmer" flotation bags was cleverly hidden on the back by its author Gae ["What? they're for safety's sake"]; the golf paraphernalia and gift certificates from Karen for when this OWS season is finally over...

I thank you all for your loving hearts and your thoughtfulness and your cleverness and your humor (and Gae for these photos which she took while I was otherwise engaged)....and I especially thank Rob Martell, the "Pod-Father," for his gift of a wonderfully sensitive and creative series of collages of dozens of photos culled from years of "Water-Blog" posts that culminated in this image of me at the buoy -- an image made up of all of those myriad photos of our beloved West Neck Beach, the open water of Cold Spring Harbor, and all the rest of you....That one brought tears to my eyes -- yes, Salt tears! -- because you are now all so much a part of me, as that last image so perfectly reflected....Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone for all of your many gifts, but especially for this gift of you -- "The West Neck Pod." See you in the Salt!