Description

This wonderful piece captures a moment in time that anyone who has ever visited Coney Island can relate to.

It is a hot summer day and the beach is filled with life. In the backdrop is the amusement park with the Wonder Wheel, Cyclone Roller Coaster, and the Boardwalk. In the fore is the golden sand, teeming with young and old. And enjoy how the beach water is created so painterly - with a rather large woman in a red bathing suit.

Dad was 86 years old now, and he came to live with my wife and I on Long Island after Mom passed in 2007. On this day, I took him out and we ended up at Coney Island beach on a dock.

Throughout our youth, Mom and Dad would bring us to Coney Island by subway. It was a long full-day trip from uptown Manhattan. I can remember being in the front car and waiting for the train to exit the tunnel, in Brooklyn. Not too long after, we could see the amusement park in the distance and smell the salty beach water. We were poor back then, but when you're young there is no rich or poor, but I don't have many memories of time spent at the amusement park or eating hot dogs. We were there as a family and that was enough, and today I remember the many moments - so many micro-memories - at the beach on A Coney Island Day.

Through My Father's Eyes